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The Battle of Point Pleasant 
A Battle of the Revolution 

October 10th, 1774 



Biographical Sketches of the 
Men Who Participated 



By 



Mrs. Livia Nye Simpson- Poff en barker 



The State Gazette, Publisher 
Point Pleasant, West Virginia 
1909 



Dedication 



This little volume is dedicated to the memory of the brave 
colonists who, successful at the battle of Point Pleasant, bad fought 
the opening- battle of the Revolution, in preserving the right arm of 
Virginia for the struggle with the Mother Country; thus making 
possible the blessings of liberty we now enjoy as a Nation., 



MRS. LIVIA NYE SIMPSON-POFFENBARGER. 




CI. A 



AUa 31 1909 



S3 



Copyright, 19Q9, 
By 

Mrs. Livia Nye Simpson-Poftenbarger 



Battle of Point Pleasant. 



Andrew Lewis, who command- 
ed the colonial troops in the Bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant, October 
10, 1774, was the son of John 
Lewis and Margaret Lynn Lew- 
is, his wife. 

John Lewis was of Scotch Irish 
descent, having been born in 
France, 1673, where his ances- 
tors had taken refuge from the 
persecution following- the assas- 
sination of Henry IV. He mar- 
ried Marg-aret Lynn, the daugh- 
ter of the "Laird of Loch Lynn," 
of Scotland, and emigrated to 
Ireland, thence to America 
in 1729, and became the founder 
of Staunton, Virginia. Here, he 
planted a colony and reared a 
family that have given luster to 
American History. 

Governor Gooch, of Williams- 
burg, then the seat of Govern- 
ment of Virginia, was the per- 
sonal friend of Mrs. Lewis' fath- 



er and hence granted her sons, 
together with one Benjamin Bur- 
den a land warrant for 500,000 
acres of land in the James and 
Shenandoah Valleys, with the 
proviso that they were to locate 
one hundred families within ten 
years. They induced their 
friends from Scotland and the 
north of Ireland, and the Scotch 
Irish of Pennsylvania, to emi- 
grate to Augusta County, Vir- 
ginia. In her diary, Mrs. Lewis 
says: "It sounded like the gath- 
ering of the clans to hear the 
names of these settlers viz: Mc- 
Kees, McCues, McCampbells, 
McClungs, McKouns, Caruthers, 
Stuarts, Wallaces, Lyles, Pax- 
tons, Prestons andGrisbys." 

We quote the following from 
the Ohio Archaeological and His- 
torical Quarterly, July, 1903, pp. 
288, 289, 290: 

"When John Randolph said 



2 



that Pennsylvania had produced 
but two great men — Benjamin 
Franklin, of Massachusetts, and 
Albert Gallatin, of Switzerland — 
he possibly did not know that the 
best blood of his own State was 
that of the Scotch-Irish people 
who went down from Pennsylva- 
nia and settled in the Valley. 
He likely did not know that the 
great and good Dr. Archibald 
Alexander, the founder of Lib- 
erty Hall, now Washington and 
Lee University (so much loved 
by Washington,) the very seat of 
culture and power of the Shen- 
andoah and James, the greatest 
factor of the State's prowess, 
was a Pennsylvania^. He possi 
bly did not know that Dr. Gra- 
ham, the first president ot this 
institution, was from Old Pax- 
tang; that many of the families 
whose names are in the pantheon 
of old Dominion achievement, the 
families that give Virginia her 
prominence in the sisterhood of 
States, had their American ori- 
gin in Pennsylvania — in the 
Scotch-Irish reservoir of the 
Cumberland Valley — the Mc- 
Dowells, the Pattersons, the 
McCormacks, Ewings, McCor- 
cles, Prestons, McCunes, Craigs, 
McCulloughs, Simpsons, Stew- 
arts, Moffats, Irwins, Hunters, 
Blairs, Elders, Grahams, Fin- 
leys, Trimbles, Rankins, and 
hundreds of others, whose 
achievements mark the pathway 
of the world's progress. John 



Randolph possibly did not know 
that the first Declaration of In- 
dependence by the American 
patriots was issued by the mem- 
bers of Hanover Church out 
there in Dauphin county, when 
on June 4th, 1774, they declared 
' k that in the event Great Britain 
attempting to force unjust laws 
upon us by the strength of Arms, 
our cause we leave to heaven and 
our rifles." This declaration 
was certain y carried to Meck- 
lenburg to give the sturdy peo- 
ple of that region inspiration for 
the strong document issued by 
them a year later, and which 
gave Jefferson a basis for the 
Declaration of 1776. There was 
much moving from Pennsylva- 
nia into Virginia and North Car- 
olina before the Revolution, and 
Hanover Presbytery in the Val- 
ley was largely made up of peo- 
ple from Pennsylvania, whose 
petition of ten thousand names 
for a free church in a free land, 
made in 1785, was the force back 
of Jefferson's bill for religious 
tolerance, a triumph for freedom 
that has always been considered 
a Presbyterian victory by the 
Scotch-Irish of America. 

We know that Dr. Sankey of 
Hanover Church was a minister 
in Hanover Presbytery, and that 
he was followed into Virginia by 
large numbers of the Hanover 
congregation, who kept up a con- 
stant stream into the Valley. By 
the way, two settlements were 



3 



made by this congregation in 
Ohio. Col. Rogers, Gov. Bush- 
nei's secretary, derives his de- 
scent from them. The popula- 
tion of North Carolina at the out- 
break of the Revolution was 
largely made up of Scotch-Irish 
immigrants from Pennsylvania 
and the Virginia Valley who had 
a public school system before the 
war. These were the people 
who stood with the Rev. David 
Caldwell on the banks of the Al- 
amance May 16th, 1771, and re- 
ceived the first volley of shot 
fired in the contest for Independ- 
ence. This same blood coursed 
the veins of the patriot army 
with Lewis at Point Pleasant, the 
first battle of the Revolutionary 
War, fought October 10, 1774, 
Lord Dunmore having no doubt 
planned the attack by the tndians 
to discourage the Americans 
from further agitation of the then 
pending demand for fair treat- 
ment of the American Colonies 
at the hands of Great Britian. 
It was this blood that coursed 
the veins of those courageous 
people who, having survived the 
Kerr's creek massacre, were 
carried to a Shawnee village in 
Ohio, and on being bantered to 
sing by the Indians in their cruel 
sport, sang Rouse's version of 
one of the Psalms. "Unappalled 
by the bloody scene," says the 
Augusta historian, "through 
which they had already passed, 
and the fearful tortures awaiting 



them, within the dark wilderness 
of forest, when all hope of rescue 
seemed forbidden; undaunted 
by the fiendish revelings of their 
savage captors, they sang aloud 
with the most pious ferver — 

"On Babel's stream we sat and wept when 

Zion we thought on, 
In midst thereof we hanged our harps the 

willow trees among, 
For then a song required they who did us 

captive bring, 
Our spoilers called for mirth and said, a 

song of Zion sing." 

It was this blood that fought 
the battle of King's Mountain, 
which victory gave the patriots 
the courage that is always in 
hope; it was the winning force at 
Cowpens, at Guilford, where 
Rev. Samuel Houston discharged 
his rifle fourteen times, once for 
each ten minutes of the battle. 
These brave hearts were in every 
battle of the Revolution, from 
Point Pleasant in 1774 to the vic- 
tory of Wayne at the Maumee 
Rapids twenty years later, for 
the War of Independence con- 
tinued in the Ohio Country after 
the treaty of peace. And yet, 
after all this awful struggle to 
gain and hold for America the 
very heart of the Republic, one 
of the gentlemen referred to by 
Mr. Randolph wrote pamphlets 
in which he derided as murder- 
ers the courageous settlers of 
our blood on the occasions they 
felt it necessary to ''remove" In- 
dians with their long rifles. Af- 
ter all the struggle, he too would 
have made an arrangement with 



4 



England by which the Ohio river 
would have been the boundary 

line." 

These were the people who in 
coming- to America had not only 
secured for themselves that per- 
sonal religious freedom of a 
church without a Bishop and ul- 
timately a state without a King, 
but they became recruits in the 
Army of Andrew Lewis, the hero 
of the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
and like many of their country- 
men, continued in the army, 
(those who had not met the fate 
of battle,) and became the flower 
of Virginia's Colonial Army. 

The Status of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. 

While the Battle of Point Pleas- 
ant has always been conceded to 
have been the most terrific con- 
flict ever waged between the 
white man and the Indian, its full 
significance has not been made 
the text of American history. 
We quote however, from a few 
of the American writers, show- 
ing their estimate of it. 

Roosevelt, in "The Winning- of 
the West," Vol. II, chap. 2, says: 
''Lord Dunmore's War, waged 
by Americans for the good of 
America, was the opening- act in 
the drama whereof the closing 
scene was played at Yorktown. 
It made possible the two fold 
character of the Revolutionary 
War, wherein on the one hand 
the Americans won by conquest 



and colonization, new lands for 
their children, and on the other 
wrought out their national inde- 
pendence of the British King." 

Kercheval's History of the 
Valley, p. 120, says: "Be it re- 
membered, then, that this Indian 
war was but a portico to our rev- 
olutionary war, the fuel for which 
was then preparing, and which 
burst into a flame, the ensuing 
year. Neither let us forget that 
the Earle of Dunmore was at this 
time governor of Virginia; and 
that he was acquainted with the 
views and designs of the British 
Cabinet, can scarcely be doubted. 
What then, suppose ye, would be 
the conduct of a man possessing 
his means, filling a high, official 
station, attached to the British 
government, and master of con- 
sumate diplomatic skill." 

Dr. John P. Hale, in writing of 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
says, in the History of the Great 
Kanawha Valley, Vol. I, pp. 114, 
115, "Early in the spring of 1774, 
it was evident that the Indians 
were combining for aggressive 
action. * * * It was decided 
that an army of two divisions 
should be organized as speedily 
as practicable — one to be com- 
manded by Gen. Lewis, and the 
other by Lord Dunmore, in per- 
son. * * * Gen. Lewis'army 
rendezvoused at Camp Union 
(Lewisburg,) about September 
1st, and was to March from there 
to the mouth of Kanawha; while 



5 



Gov. Dunmore was to go the 
northwest route, over the Brad- 
dock trail, by way of Fort Pitt, 
and thence down the Ohio river 
and form a junction with Gen. 
Lewis at the mouth of Kanawha. 

* * * * The agg regate 
strength of this southern divi- 
sion of the army was about elev- 
en hundred; the strength of the 
northern division, under Lord 
Dunmore, was about fifteen hun- 
dred. On the 11th of September 
Gen. Lewis broke camp, and, 
with Captain Matthew Arbuckle, 
an intelligent and experienced 
frontiersman, as pilot, marched 
through a pathless wifderness. 
They reached Point Pleasant on 
the 30th day of September, after 
a fatigueing march of nineteen 
days. Gen. Lewis for several 
days anxiously awaited the arri- 
val of Lord Dunmore, who, by 
appointment, was to have joined 
him here on the 2nd of October. 
Having no intelligence from him, 
Lewis dispatched messengers 
up the Ohio river to meet him, 
or learn what had become of 
him. 

Before his messengers return- 
ed, however three messengers 
(probably McCulloch, Kenton 
and Girty) arrived at his camp 
on Sunday, the 9th of October, 
with orders from Lord Dunmore 
to cross the river and meet him 
before the Indian towns in Ohio. 
This is, substantially, the cur- 



rent version of matters: but au- 
thorities differ. 

Some say the messenger ar- 
rived on the night of ihe 10th, 
after the battle was fought; 
others say they did not arrive 
until the 11th, the day after the 
battle, and Col. Andrew Lewis, 
son of Gen. Andrew Lewis, says 
his father received no communi- 
cation whatever from Lord Dun- 
more after he (Lewis) left camp 
Union, until after the battle bad 
been fought, and Lewis of his 
own motion, had gone on into 
Ohio, expecting to join Dunmore 
and punish the Indians, when he 
received an order to stop and re- 
turn to the Point. This order 
(by messenger) Lewis disre- 
garded, when Lord Dunmore 
came in person, and after a con- 
ference and assurances trom 
Dunmore that he was about 
negotiating a '"peace, Lewis re- 
luctantly retraced his steps. In 
the very excited state of feeling 
then existing between the col- 
onies and the mother country, It 
was but natural that the sympa- 
thies of Lord Dunmore, a titled 
English nobleman, and holding 
his commission as governor of 
Virginia at the pleasure of the 
crown, should be with his own 
country; but it was not only 
strongly suspected, but general- 
ly charged, that, while he was 
yet acting as governor of Vir- 
ginia, and before he had declar- 
ed himself against the colonies, 



6 



he was unfairly using - his posi- 
tion and influence to the pre- 
judice of his subjects. * * * 
According to the account of Col. 
Stewart, when the interview was 
over between Gen. Lewis and 
the messeng-ers of Lord Dun- 
more, on the 9th, Lewis gave or- 
ders to break camp at an early 
hour next morning, cross the 
river, and take up their march 
towards the Indian towns; but 
the fates had decreed otherwise. 
At the hour for starting, they 
found themselves confronted by 
an arm}- of Indian braves, eight 
hundred to one thousand strong, 
in their war paint, and com- 
manded by their able and trust- 
ed leaders, Cornstalk, Logan, 
Red Hawk, Blue Jacket and 
Elinipsico, and some authors 
mention two or three others. 
Instead of a hard day's march- 
ing, Lewis army had a harder 
day's fighting — the important, 
desperately contested, finally 
victorious, and ever-memorable 
battle of Point Pleasant. No 
"official report" of this battle 
has been preserved, or was ever 
written, so far as can be learned. 
There are several good reasons, 
apparently, for this omission. 
In the first place, the time, place 
and circumstances were not fa- 
vorable for preparing a formal 
official report. In the second 
place, Lord Dunmore, the sup- 
erior officer, to whom Gen. 
Lewis should, ordinarily, have 



reported, was himself in the 
field, but a few miles distant, 
and Gen. Lewis was expecting 
that the two divisions of the 
army would be united within a 
few days; and, in the third place, 
the ''strained relations" between 
the colonies and the mother 
country were such, and the re- 
cent action of Gov. Dunmore so 
ambiguous, that Gen. Lewis was 
probably not inclined to report 
to him at all.*' 

* * * * 

The same author, in the same 
volume, at pages 122, 128, 129, 
130, 131 and 132, says; k< Col. 
Stewart, one of the first to write 
about the battle, after Arbuckle's 
short account, was himself pres- 
ent, was well known to Gen. 
Lewis (and a relative by mar- 
riage), says Gen. Lewis received 
a message from Gov. Dunmore, 
on the 9th, telling him to cross 
the Ohio and join him. Burk, 
and others, say the messengers 
came after the battle, and men- 
tion Simon Kenton and Simon 
Girty among the messengers. 
Col. Andrew Lewis says his 
father received no communica- 
tion of any sort from Gov. Dun- 
more, until ordered to return 
from Ohio. * * * * It has 
been stated that there were not 
only suspicions, but grave 
charges, that Governor Dunmore 
acted a double part, and that he 
was untrue and treacherous to 



7 



the interests of the colony he 
g-overned. As he is inseparably 
connected with the campaign 
(often called the Dunmore War), 
and its accompanying history, 
and the inauguration of the Rev- 
olution, it may be well to briefly 
allude to his official course just 
before, during and after the 
campaign that his true relations 
to it, and to the colony, may be 
understood; and, also, to show 
that the "Revolution" was reall}' 
in progress; that this campaign 
was one of the important early 
moves on the historical chess- 
board, and that the battle of 
Point Pleasant was, as generally 
claimed, the initiatory battle of 
the great drama. In the sum- 
mer of 1773. Governor Dunmore 
made, ostensibly, a pleasure trip 
to Fort Pitt; here he establish- 
ed close relations with Dr. Con- 
nally, making him Indian agent, 
land agent, etc. Connally was an 
able active and efficient man, 
who thereafter adhered to Dun- 
more and the English cause. It 
is charged that Connally at once 
began fomenting trouble and ill- 
feeling between the colonies of 
Virginia and Pennsylvania in re- 
gard to the western frontier of 
Pennsylvania, then claimed by 
both colonies, but held by Vir- 
ginia, hoping by such course to 
prevent the friendly co-operation 
of these colonies against Eng- 
lish designs; and, also to incite 
the Indian tribes to resistance 



of western white encroachments 
upon their hunting grounds, aud 
prepare the way forgetting their 
co-operation with England 
againt the colonies, when the 
rupture should come. In De- 
cember, 1773, the famous "cold- 
water tea 1 ' was made in Boston 
harbor. In retaliation the Eng- 
lish government blockaded the 
port of boston, and moved the 
capital of the colony to Salem. 
When this news came, in 1774, 
the Virginia assembly, being in 
session, passed resolutions of 
sympathy with Massachusetts, 
and strong disapproval of the 
course of England; whereupon 
Governor Dunmore peremptori- 
ly dissolved the assembly. 
They met privately, opened cor- 
respondence with the other col- 
onies, and proposed co-operation 
and a colonial congress. On the 
4th of September, 1774, met, in 
Philadelphia, the first continen- 
tal congress — Peyton Randolph, 
of Virginia, president; George 
Washington, R. H. Lee, Richard 
Bland, Patrick Henry, Benjamin 
Harrison and Edmund Pendle- 
ton members from Virginia. 
They passed strong resolutions; 
among- others; to resist taxation 
and other obnoxious measures; 
to raise minute men to forcibly 
resist coercion; and, finally resol- 
ved to cease all official inter- 
course with the English govern- 
ment. In the meantime, Dr. 
Connally had been carrying out 



s 



the programme of the northwest. 
He had taken possession of the 
fort at Fort Pitt, and renamed 
it Fort Dunmore; was claiming 
lands under patents from Gov- 
ernor Dunmore, and making set- 
tlements on them; had been him- 
self arrested and imprisoned for 
a time by Pennsylvania; had the 
Indian tribes highly excited, 
united in a strong confederacy 
and threatened war; then came 
the massacre of Indians above 
Wheeling, at Capitina and at Yel- 
low creek, said to have grown 
out of Connally's orders. While 
the continental congress was 
passing the resoluticns above 
mentioned, and which created a 
breach between the colonies and 
the mother country past healing, 
Governor Dunmore and General 
Lewis were organizing and 
marching their armies to the 
west. Instead of uniting the 
forces into one army, and march- 
ing straight to the Indian towns 
and conquering or dictating a 
lasting peace, Lord Dunmore 
took the larger portion of the 
army by a long detour by Fort 
Pitt, and thence down the Ohio, 
picking up on the way Dr. Con- 
nallv and Simon Girty, whom he 
made useful. At Fort Pitt, it 
is said, he had held a conference 
with some of the Indian chiefs, 
and came to some understanding 
with them, the particulars of 
w 7 hich are not known. Instead 
of uniting with Lewis at the 



mouth of Kanawha, as had been 
arranged, but which was proba- 
bly not intended, he struck off 
from the Ohio river at the mouth 
of Hockhocking and marched for 
the Indian towns on the Picka- 
way plains, without the support 
of Lewis army, delaying long 
enough for the Indians to have 
annihilated Lewis division if 
events had turned out as Corn- 
stalked had planned. He (Corn- 
stalk) said it was first their in- 
tention to attack the "Long 
Knives' 1 and destroy them, as 
they crossed the river, and this 
plan would have been carried 
out, or attempted, but for the 
long delay of Lewis' awaiting 
the arrival of Lord Dunmore. 
They afterwards, upon consulta- 
tions, changed their plans, and 
determined to let Lewis cross 
the river and then ambush him 
somewhere near their own 
homes, and farther from his 
^Lewis') base; but the Indians 
had no organized commissary or 
transportation a r r a n g e m ents, 
and could only transport such 
amount of food as each brave 
could carry for his own susten- 
ance; this w T as necessarily, a lim- 
ited amount, and Lewis' delay 
in crossing had run their rations 
so short that they ^/ere obliged 
to cross, themselves, and force 
a fight, or break camp and go to 
hunting food. They crossed in 
the night, about three miles 
above the Point, on rafts previ- 



9 



ously constructed, and expected 
to take Lewis' army by surprise; 
and it will be seen bow near they 
came to accomplishing* it. It 
was prevented by the accident of 
the early hunters, who were out 
before daylight, in violation of 
orders. 

Dr. Campbell says there was 
considerable dissatisfaction 
in Lewis camp, for some 
days before the battle growing- 
out of the manner of serving- the 
rations, and especially the beef 
rations; the men claimed that 
the good and bad beef were not 
dealt out impartially. On the 
9th, Gen. Lewis ordered that the 
poorest beeves be killed first, 
and distributed to all alike. The 
beef was so poor that the men 
were unwilling to eat it, and, al- 
though it was positively against 
orders to leave camp without 
permission, about one hundred 
men started out before day, next 
morning (the 10th), in different 
directions, to hunt and provide 
their own meat. Many of these 
did not get back, nor know of the 
battle until night, when it was 
all over. This was a serious re- 
duction of the army at such a 
time. 

Col. Andrew Lewis (son of 
General Andrew,) in his account 
of the Point Pleasant campaign, 
says: ' It is known that Blue Jack- 
et, a Shawnee Chief, visited Lord 
Dunmore's camp, on the 9th, the 
day before the battle, and went 



straight from there to the Point, 
and some of them went to con- 
fer with Lord Dunmore immedi- 
ately after the battle.' It is also 
said that Lord Dunmore, in con- 
versation with Dr. Connally, and 
others, on the 10th, the day of 
the battle, remarked that "Lewis 
is probably having hot work 
about this time." 

When Lewis had crossed the 
river, after the battle, and was 
marching to join Dunmore, a 
messenger was dispatched to 
him twice in one day, ordering 
him to stop and retrace his 
steps — the messenger in each 
instance, being the afterward 
notorious Simon Girty. Gen. 
Lewis had, very naturally, be- 
come much incensed at the con- 
duct of Lord Dunmore, and took 
the high-handed responsibility — 
advised and sanctioned by his 
officers and men — of disobeying 
the order of his superior in com- 
mand, and' boldly marching on 
towards his carnp. When with- 
in about two and one-half miles of 
Lord Dunmore's headquarters, 
which he called Camp Charlotte, 
after Queen Charlotte, wife of 
his majesty, George III., he 
came out to meet Lewis in per- 
son, bringing with him Corn- 
stalk, White Eyes (another noted 
Shawanee chief), and others, 
and insisted on Lewis's return- 
ing as he (Dunmore) was nego- 
tiating a treaty of peace with 
the Indians- He sought an in- 



10 



troduction to Lewis' officers, and 
paid them some flattering com- 
pliments, etc. Evidently it did 
not comport with Lord Dun 
more's plans to have Gen. Lewis 
present at the treaty, to help the 
negotiation by suggestions, or to 
have the moral support of his 
arm\- to sustain them. So much 
did Lewis' army feel the disap- 
pointment and this indignity, 
that Col. Andrew, his son, says 
that it was with difficulty Gen. 
Lewis could restrain his men 
(not under very rigid discipline, 
at best) from killing Lord Dun- 
more and his Indian escort. 
But the result of the personal 
conference was that Gen, Lewis, 
at last with the utmost reluctance 
of himself and army, consented 
to return, and to disband his 
army upon his arrival at Camp 
Union, as ordered. 

Suppose Lewis had attempted 
to cross the river, and been de- 
stroyed, or had crossed and been 
ambushed and demolished in the 
forest thickets of Ohio, or that 
Cornstalk had succeeded, as he 
came so near doing, in surprising 
him in his own camp, on the morn- 
ing of the 10th, or after that; sup- 
pose the Indians had succeeded 
in turning the so evenly balanced 
scale in their favor, during the 
fight, as they came so near doing, 
and had annihilated Lewis' army, 
as they might have done, having 
them penned up in the angle of 
two rivers, who can doubt in 



view of all the facts above noted, 
that Lord Dunmore would have 
been responsible for the disaster? 
Who can doubt, as it was, that 
he was responsible for the un- 
necessary sacrifice of life, at the 
Point, on the 10th? Who can 
doubt that, with the two divisions 
of the army united, as per agree- 
ment, and Lord Dunmore and 
Lewis acting in unison and good 
faith, they could have marched 
to the Indian towns, and utterlv 
destroyed them, or dictated a 
favorable and lasting peace, and 
maintained it as long as they 
pleased, by holding importent 
hostages? But, clearly, the pol- 
icy of the governor was dictated 
by ulterior and sinister motives; 
his actions were not single-mind- 
ed. Col. Andrew Lewis savs: 
"It was evidently the intention 
of the old Scotch villain to cut off 
Gen. Lewis' army.' Burk the 
historian, says: "The division 
under Lewis was devoted to de- 
struction, for the purpose of 
breaking the spirit of the Virgin- 
ians." Withers, Doddridge, and 
others, express the same views. 
Gen. Lewis and his army were 
convinced of the fact; Col. Stew- 
art had no doubt of it, and nearly 
every one who has written on the 
subject has taken the same view 
of it. A few only are willing to 
give him the benefit of a doubt. 
If this design to destroy Lewis' 
army had succeeded, it is almost 
certain that the English, through 



11 



Lord Dunmore, would have per- 
fected an alliance, offensive and 
defensive, with the victorious In- 
dians, against the colonies, and 
every white settlement west of 
the Alleghenies would proba- 
bly have been cut off. It 
would have been difficult 
or impossible, for a time, 
to raise another army for the de- 
fense of the western border; the 
tory element would have been 
encouraged and strengthened, 
the revolutionary element cor- 
respondingly discouraged, the 
rebellion( ? ) crushed, and Lord 
Dunmore would have been the 
hero of the age. Upon what slen- 
der and uncertaiu tenures hang 
the destinies of nations, and the 
fate of individuals! The closely- 
won success of Lewis was not 
only an immediate victory over 
the Indians, but a defeat of the 
machinations of the double deal- 
ing governor, and the projected 
Anglo-Indian alliance. If this 
view of it is established the claim 
of the battle of Point Pleasant 
as being- the initiatory battle of 
the revolution; and, although 
small in itself, when its after re- 
sults and influences are consid- 
ered it stands out in bold relief 
as one of the important and de- 
cisive victories of history . A 
few words more and we shall be 
done with Lord Dunmore. Up- 
on his return to Williamsburg, 
the Assembly, upon his own ex- 
par te statement of the results of 



the campaign, passed a vote of 
thanks for his "valuable ser- 
vices,' etc., which, it is said, 
they very much regretted when 
they learned more of the facts. 
Just after the battle of Lexing- 
ton (April 19, 1775), he had all 
the powder that was stored in 
the colonial magizine at Williams- 
burg secretly conveyed on board 
an armed English vessel lying 
off Yorktown, and threatened to 
lay Williamsburg in ashes at the 
first sign of insurrection. 
Patrick Henry raised a volun- 
teer force to go down and com- 
pel him (Dunmore) to restore 
the powder; but as this was im- 
practicable, he agreed to pay, 
and did pay for it, and then is- 
sued a proclamation declaring 
"One Patrick Henry and his 
followers rebels.' He had pre- 
viously threatened Thomas Jef- 
ferson with prosecution for trea- 
son, and had commenced pro- 
ceedings. About this time, hav- 
ing previously sent his family on 
an English naval vessel, he made 
his own escape, by night, to the 
English fleet and commenced a 
system of depredations along the 
coast, burning houses, destroy- 
ing crops, etc. He tried to bring 
his scheme of Indian co-opera- 
tion to bear, and sent a message 
to his old friend, Connally, with 
a commission as Colonel, and in- 
structed him to secure the co- 
operation of as many of the west- 
ern militia commanders as possi- 



12 



ble, by large rewards; to form an 
alliance with the Indians, collect 
his forces at Fort Pitt, and 
march through Virginia and 
meet him. Fortunately, Col. 
Connally was captured and im- 
prisoned, and the scheme ex- 
posed and thwarted He (Dun- 
more) issued a proclamation 
granting freedom, to all the 
slaves who would flock to his 
standard, and protection to the 
Tories. Among other acts of 
violence, he burned Norfolk, the 
then largest and most important 
town in Virginia. Upon his 
flight, the Assembly met and 
declared his office vacant, and 
proceeded to fill it; and, for the 
first time, Virginia had entire 
"home rule.' Upon the petition 
of citizens of Dunmore county, 
which had been named in his 
honor, the name was abolished, 
and the county called Shenan- 
doah. In 1776, Lord Dunmore 
and his fleet and hangers-on 
were at Guynne's Island, in the 
Chesapeake Ba} T , where, as an 
interesting example of poetic or 
retributive justice, Gen. Lewis 
in command of the Virginia 
troops, attacked, defeated, and 
drove them off, with heavy loss, 
Gen. Lewis himself, firing the 
first gun, soon after which the 
ex-Governor, a sadder and wiser 
man <k left the country for the 
country's good." 

It will thus be seen that Dun- 
more, the Tory Governor of Vir- 



ginia, knew that the war of the 
Revolution was inevitable. John 
Adams dates the opening of the 
Revolution in 1760. The people 
had tired of taxation without rep- 
resentation. In 1764 we find an 
organized opposition to oppres- 
sive taxation in Boston. In 1765, 
was passed the Stamp Act and in 
that year was organized the Sons 
of Liberty. In 1766 the Royal 
Artillery was in Boston. In 
1767, a duty was imposed on tea. 
In 1768 British troops were sent 
to Boston. Iu 1768 in Virginia 
was passed the non-impurtation 
agreement, followed in 1770 by 
the Boston Massacre. 

In the Parliament of England, 
the discussion of the taxation of 
the colonies did not tend to allay 
their determination to thwart all 
oppression and when George 
III determined at all odds to im- 
pose taxation the matter was set- 
tled in the heart of every loyal 
American, whether the vow was 
expressed or implied. It is well 
authenticated that, to occupy the 
attention of the colonial forces 
that they might not have so much 
(time in which to brood over the 
oppression of the mother coun- 
try,) it was necessary to incite 
the Indians to attact the frontiers 
and so divert the attention of the 
colonists from their quarrel with 
the mother country and at the 
same time impress upon them a 
feeling of dependence upon Brit- 
ish arms and means for the safe- 



13 



ty of their lives and homes. One 
of the quickest to avail himself 
of this method of resisting the 
onflowing tide of this demand for 
Liberty was Governor Dunmore. 

Virginia had been the first in 
1764 to pass a Resolution, defy- 
ing the British authority as is 
seen by the following, introduc- 
ed by Patrick Henry, in the 
House of Burgesses, and carried : 

"Resolved, therefore, That the 
General Assembly of this colony, 
together with his majesty or 
substitute, have, in their repre- 
sentative capacity, the only ex- 
clusive right and power to lay 
taxes and impositions upon the 
inhabitants of this colony; and 
that every attempt to vest such 
power in any person or persons 
whatsoever, other than the Gen- 
eral Assembly aforesaid, is ille-^ 
gal, unconstitutional, and unjust, 
and has a manifest tendency to 
destroy British, as well as Amer- 
ican, Freedom. " 

In this same year 1764, Pat- 
rick Henry originated the great 
question which led to the final 
independence of the United 
States. 

When, in January, 1765, the 
famous stamp act was passed 
that for a while stunned the 
whole country, and confounded 
the people, it was Virginia, led 
by the matchless Henry, that 
stood forth to raise the drooping 
spirits of the colonists, and it is 
said his election to the house of 



burgesses was with express ref- 
erence to his opposition to the 
stamp act, and the adoption of a 
series of resolutions in 1765, 
chief among which was the one 
above referred to. 

Upon the death of Mr. Henry, 
in his private papers, was found 
the original manuscript, embrac- 
ing the above Resolution with 
others, bearing the following 
narrative, written on the back of 
it by Mr. Henry, himself: 

"The within resolutions pass- 
ed the house of burgesses in 
May, 1765. They formed the 
first opposition to the stamp act, 
and the scheme of taxing Ameri- 
ca by the British parliament. 
All the colonies, either through 
fear, or want of opportunity to 
form an opposition, or from in- 
fluence of some kind or other, 
had remained silent. I had been 
for the first time elected a bur- 
gess, a few days before, was 
young, inexperienced, unac- 
quainted with the forms of the 
house, and the members that 
composed it. Finding the men 
of weight averse to opposition, 
and the commencement of the 
tax at hand, and that no person 
was likely to step forth, I deter- 
mined to venture, and alone, 
unadvised, and unassisted, on a 
blank leaf of an old law book 
wrote the within. Upon offer- 
ing them to the house, violent de- 
bates ensued. Many threats 
were uttered, and much abuse 



14 



cast upon me, by the party for 
submission. After a long and 
warm contest, the resolutions 
passed by a very small majority, 
perhaps of one or two only. 
The alarm spread through Amer- 
ica with astonishing quickness, 
and the ministerial party were 
overwhelmed. The great point 
of resistance to British taxation 
was universally established in 
the colonies. This brought on 
the war, which finally separated 
the two countries, and gave in- 
dependence to ours." 

The Virginia house of bur- 
gesses continued to pass resolu- 
tions of defiance until the session 
of 1768-9, when the house was 
dissolved by the governor. This 
house had the merit of originat- 
ing that powerful engine of re- 
sistance, corresponding commit- 
tees between the legislatures of 
the colonies, a measure so nearly 
coeval in the two states of Vir- 
ginia and Massachusetts that it 
would have been, at that time 
with their slow methods of com- 
munication, impossible to have 
borrowed the idea one from the 
other; so that they are equally 
entitled to that honor, although 
Mrs. Warren, a Massachusetts 
historian of that time, admits 
that the measure originated in 
Virginia. 

It will thus be seen that when 
the colonists met in Congress in 
Philadelphia, September 4, 1774, 
that all over Virginia it was be- 



lieved, as Patrick Henry had so 
eloquently asserted, that the war 
was inevitable, and the people 
were ready to voice his senti- 
ment, "Let it come." Consider- 
ing all these facts, we can well 
credit Howe, the Virginia histo- 
rian who says, "While Virginia 
was employed in animating her 
sister states to resistance, her 
governor was employed in the 
ignoble occupation of fomenting 
jealousies and feuds between the 
province, which it should have 
been his duty to protect from 
such a calamity, and Pennsylva- 
nia, by raising difficult questions 
of boundary, and exciting the in- 
habitants of the disputed terri- 
tory to forswear allegience to the 
latter province; hoping thus, by 
affording a more immediately 
exciting question, to draw off the 
attention of these too important 
provinces from the encroach- 
ments of Great Britain. This 
scheme, as contemptible as it 
was iniquitous, wholly failed, 
through the good sense and 
magnanimity of the Virginia 
council. Lord North, full of his 
feeble and futile schemes of 
cheating the colonies out of their 
rights, took off the obnoxious 
duties with the exception of three 
pence per pound on tea; and, 
with the ridiculous idea that he 
might fix the principle upon the 
colonies by a precedent, which 
should strip it of all that was 
odious, offered a draw-back equal 



15 



to the import duty. This induc- 
ed the importation of tea into 
Boston harbor which, being 
thrown overboard by some of 
the citizens, called down upon 
their city all the rigor of the cele- 
brated Boston port bill. 

A draft of this bill reached the 
Virginia legislature while in ses- 
sion; an animated protest, and a 
dissolution of the assembly by 
the governor, of course followed. 
On the following day the mem- 
bers convened in the Raleigh 
tavern and, in an able and man- 
ly paper, expressed to their con- 
stituents and their government 
those sentiments and opinions 
which they had not been allowed 
to express in a legislative form. 
This meeting recommended a 
a cessation of trade with the East 
India Company, a Congress of 
deputies from all the colonies, 
'declaring their opinion, that an 
attack upon one of the colonies 
was an attack upon all British in 
America,'and calling a convention 
of the people of Virginia. The 
sentiments of the people accorded 
with those of their late delegates; 
they elected members who met 
in convention at Williamsburg, 
on the 1st of August, 1774. 

This convention went into a 
detailed view of their rights and 
grievances, discussed measures 
of redress for the latter, and de- 
clared their determination never 
to relinquish the former; they 
appointed deputies to attend a 



general Congress, and they in- 
structed them how to proceed. 
The Congress met in Philadel- 
phia, on the 4th of September, 
1774. 

While Virginia was engag- 
ed in her efforts for the gen- 
eral good, she was not without 
her peculiar troubles at home. 
The Indians had been for some 
time waging a horrid war upon 
the frontiers, when the indigna- 
tion of the people at length com- 
pelled the reluctant govenor to 
take up arms, and march to sup- 
press the very savages he was 
thought to have encouraged and 
excited to hostility by his intri- 
gues. 

Lord Dunmore marched the 
army in two divisions: the one 
under General Andrew Lewis 
he sent to the junction of the 
Great Kanawha with the Ohio, 
while he himself marched to a 
higher point on the latter river, 
with pretended purpose of de- 
stroying the Indian towns and 
joining Lewis at Point Pleasant; 
but it was believed with the real 
object of sending the whole In- 
dian force to annihilate Lewis' 
detachment, and thereby weaken 
the power and break down the 
spirit of Virginia. If such was 
his object he was signally defeat- 
ed through the gallantry of the 
detachment, which met and de = . 
feated the superior numbers of 
the enemy at Point Pleasant, af- 
ter an exceeding hard-fought 



16 



day, and the loss of nearly all its 
officers. The day after the vic- 
tory, an express arrived from 
Dunmore with orders for the 
detachment to join him at a dis- 
tance of 80 miles, through an en- 
emy's country, without any con- 
ceivable object but the destruc- 
tion of the corps. As these or- 
ders were given without a know- 
lege of the victory, Col. Lewis 
was proceeding to the destruc- 
tion of the Shawanee villiages, 
when he was informed the gov- 
ernor had made peace. 

Another evidence of Dun- 
more's intention to have the ar- 
my of Andrew Lewis destroyed 
at Point Pleasant, is found in 
Kercheval's History of the Val- 
ley, p. 118, as follows: "It was 
the generel belief among the of- 
ficers of our army, at the time, 
that the Earl of Dunmore, while 
at Wheeling, receiyed advice 
from his government of the pro- 
bability of the approaching war 
between England and the colo- 
nies, and that afterwards, all his 
measures, with regard to the 
Indians, had for their ultimate 
object an alliance with those fe- 
rocious warriors for the aid of 
the mother country in their con- 
test with us. This supposition 
accounts for his not forming a 
junction with the army of Lewis 
# at Point Pleasant. This devia- 
tion from the original plan of the 
campaign jeopardized the army 
of Lewis and well nigh occasion- 



ed its total destruction. The 
conduct of the Earl at the treaty, 
shows a good understanding be- 
tween him and the Indian chiefs. 
He did not suffer the army of 
Lewis to form a junction with 
his own, but sent them back be- 
fore the treaty was concluded, 
thus risking the safety of his 
own forces, for at the time of the 
treaty, the Indian warriors were 
about his camp in force sufficient 
to have intercepted his retreat 
and destroyed his whole army." 

Again, Kercheval says: "We 
now proceed to examine the 
question, how far facts and cir- 
cumstances justify us in suppos- 
ing the Earl of Dunmore himself 
was instrumental in producing 
the Indian war of 1774. 

It has alreary been remarked 
that this Indian war was but the 
precursor to our revolutionary 
war of 1775— that Dunmore the 
then governor of Virginia, was 
one of the most inveterate and 
determined enemies to the revo- 
lution — that he was a man of 
high talents, especially for intri- 
gue and diplomatic skill — that 
occupying the station of com- 
mander-in-chief of the large and 
respectable State of Virginia, he 
possessed means and power to 
do much to serve the views of 
Great Britain. And we have 
seen, from the preceding- pages, 
how effectually he played his 
part among the inhabitants of 
the western country. I was 



17 



present myself when a Pennsyl- 
vania magistrate of the name of 
Scott, was taken into custody, 
and brought before Dunmore. at 
Prestone old Fort; he was severe- 
ly threatened and dismissed, per- 
haps on bail, but I do not recol- 
lect how; another Pennsylvania 
magistrate was sent to Staunton 
jail. And I have already shown 
in the perceding pages, that 
there was a sufficient prepara- 
tion of materials for this war in 
the predisposition and hostile 
attitude of our affairs with the 
Indians; that it was consequently 
no difficult matter with a Vir- 
ginia governor to direct the inci- 
pient ^-tate of things to any point 
most conclusive to the grand end 
he had in view, namely, in weak- 
ening our national strength in 
some of the best and most effi- 
cient parts. If, then, a war with 
the Indians might have a tenden- 
cy to produce this result, it ap- 
pears perfectly natural and 
reasonable to suppose that Dun- 
more would make use of the 
power and influence to promote 
it, and although the war of 1774 
was brought to a conclusion be- 
fore the year was out, yet we 
know that this fire was scarcely 
extinguished before it burst in- 
to a flame with tenfold fury, and 
two or three armies of the whites 
were sacrificed before we could 
get the Indians subdued; and 
this unhappy state of our affairs 
with the Indians happening dur- 



ing the severe conflict of our rev- 
olutionary war, had the very ef- 
fect, I suppose, Dunmore had in 
view namely, dividing our forces 
and enfeebling our aggregate 
strength; and that the seeds of 
these subsequent wars with the 
Indians were sown in 1774 and 
1775, appears almost certain. 

"And the first we shall men- 
tion is a circular sent by Maj. 
Connoly, his proxy, early in the 
spring of the year 1774, warning 
the inhabitants to be on their 
guard — the Indians were very 
angry, and manifested so much 
hostility, that he was apprehen- 
sive they would strike some 
where as soon as the season 
would permit, and enjoining the 
inhabitants to prepare and re- 
tire into Forts, &c. It might 
be useful to collate and compare 
this letter with one he wrote to 
Capt, Cresap on the 14th of July 
following; see hereafter. In this 
letter he declares there is a war 
or danger of war, before the war 
is properly begun; in that to Capt. 
Cresap, he says, "the. Indians 
deport themselves peaceably;" 
when Dunmore and Lewis and 
Cornstalk we are all out on their 
march for battle. 

"This letter produced its nat- 
ural result. The people fled in- 
to Forts, and put themselves in- 
to a posture of defense, and the 
tocsin of war resounded from 
Laurel Hill to the banks of the 
Ohio river. Capt, Cresap who 



18 



was peaceably at this time em- 
ployed in building houses and 
improving- lands, on the Ohio 
River, received this letter, ac- 
companied, it is believed, with a 
confirmatory message from Col. 
Crogban and Maj. McGee, Indian 
agents and interperters; and he 
thereupon immediately broke up 
his camp, and ascended the River 
to Wheeling fort, the nearest 
piace of safety from whence it is 
believed he intended speedily to 
return home; but during- his stay, 
at this place, a report was 
brought to the Fort that two In- 
dians were coming down the 
River. Capt. Cresap, supposing 
from every circumstances, and 
the general aspect of affairs, 
that war was inevitable, and in 
fact already begun, went up the 
River with his party; and two of 
his men, of the name of Cheno- 
weth and Brothers, killed, these 
two Indians. Beyond controver- 
sy this is the only circumstance 
in the history of this Indian war, 
in which his name can in the re- 
motest degree be identified with 
any measure tending to produce 
this war; and it is certain that 
the guilt or innocence of this af- 
fair will appear from this date. 
It is notorious, then, that those 
Indians were killed not only af- 
ter Capt. Cresap bad received 
Connoly's letter, and after 
Butler's men were killed in the 
canoe, but also alter the'affair at 
Yellow Creek, and after the peo- 
ple had fled into the Forts." 



The same author further says, 
on pages 128-130, inclusive, 

"The Governor of Virginia, 
whatever might have been his 
views as to the ulterior measures, 
lost no time in preparing to meet 
this storm. He sent orders im- 
mediately to Coi. Andrew Lewis, 
of Augusta county, to raise an 
army of about one thousand men, 
and to march with all expedition 
to the mouth of the Great Kan- 
awha, on the Ohio River, where, 
or at some other point, he would 
join him, after he had got to- 
gether another army, which he 
intended to raise in the north- 
western counties, and command 
in person. Lewis lost no time, 
collected the number of men re- 
quired, and marched without de- 
lay to the appointed place of ren- 
dezvous. 

"But the Earl was not quite 
so rapid in his movements, 
which circumstance the eagle 
eye of old Cornstalk, the gener- 
al of the Indian army, saw, and 
was determined to avail himself 
of, foreseeing that it would be 
much easier to destroy two sepa- 
rate columns of an invading army 
before than after their junc- 
tion and consolidation. With 
this view he marched with all ex- 
pedition to attack Lewis before 
he was joined by the Earle's ar- 
my from the north, calculating, 
confidently no doubt, that if he 
could destroy Lewis, he would 
be able to give a good account of 
the army of the Earl. 



19 



"The plan of Cornstalk ap- 
pears to have been those of a con- 
summate and skillful general, 
and the prompt and rapid execu- 
tion of them displayed the en- 
ergy of a warrior. He, there- 
fore, without loss of time, attack- 
ed Lewis at his post. The at- 
tack was sudden, violent, and I 
believe unexpected. It was 
nevertheless well fought, very 
obstinate, and of long continu- 
ance; and as both parties fought 
with rifles, the conflict was 
dreadful; many were killed on 
both sides, and the contest was 
only finished with the approach 
of night. The Virginians, how- 
ever, kept the field, but lost 
many able officers and men, and 
among the rest, Col. Charles, 
Lewis, brother to the command- 
er-in-chief. 

This battle of Lewis' opened 
an easy and unmolested passage 
for Dunmore through the Indian 
country; but it is proper to re- 
mark here, however, that when 
Dunmore arrived with his wing 
of the army at the mouth of the 
Hockhocking River, he sent Capt. 
White-eyes, a Delaware chief, to 
invite the Indians to a treaty, 
and he remained stationary at 
that place until White-eyes re- 
turned, who reported that the 
Indians would not treat about 
peace. I presume, in order of 
time, this must have been just 
before Lewis' battle; because it 
will appear in the sequal of this 



story, that a great revolution 
took place in the minds of the 
Indians after the battle. 

"Dunmore, immediate^ upon 
the report of White-eyes that the 
Indians were not disposed for 
peace, sent an express to Col. 
Lewis to move on and meet him 
near Chillicothe, on the Scioto 
river, and both wings of the ar- 
my were put in motion. But as 
Dunmore approached the Indian 
town, he was met by flags from 
the Indians, demanding peace, 
to which he acceded, halted his 
army, and runners were sent to 
invite the Indian chiefs, who 
cheerfully obeyed the summons, 
and came to the treaty — save 
only Logan, the great orator, 
who refused to come. It seems, 
however, that neither Dunmore 
nor the Indian chiefs considered 
his presenee of much importance, 
for they went to work and finish- 
ed the treaty without him — re- 
ferring, I believe, some unsettled 
points for future discussion, at 
a treaty to be held the ensuing 
summer or fall at Pittsburg. 
This treaty, the articles of which 
I never saw, nor do I know that, 
they were ever recorded, con- 
cluded Dunmore's war, in Sep- 
tember or October, 1774. After 
the treaty was over, old Corn- 
stalk, the Shawnee chief, accom- 
panied Dunmore's army until 
they reached the mouth of the 
Hockhocking. on the Ohio River; 
and what was more singular, 



20 



rather made his home in Capt. 
Cresap's tent, with whom he 
continued on terms of the most 
friendly familiarity. I consider 
this circumstance as positive 
proof that the Indians them- 
selves neither considered Capt. 
Cresap the murderer of Logan's 
family, nor the cause of the war. 
It appears, also, that at this place 
the Earl of Dunmore received 
dispatches from England. Dod- 
ridge says he received these on 
his march out. 

But we ought to have mention- 
ed in its proper place, that after 
the treaty between Dunmore and 
the Indians commenced near 
Chillocothe, Lewis arrived with 
his army, and encamped two or 
three miles from Dunmore, 
which greatly alarmed the In- 
dians, as they thought he was so 
much irritated at losing so many 
men in the late battle that he 
would not easily be pacified; nor 
would they be satisfied until 
Dunmore and old Cornstalk went 
into Lewis' camp to converse 
with him. 

Dr. Doddridge represents this 
affair in different shades of light 
from this statement. I can only 
say I had my information from 
an officer who was present at the 
time. 

But it is time to remind the 
reader, that, although I have 
wandered into such a minute de- 
tail of the various occurrences, 
facts and circumstances of Dun- 



more's war; and all of which as a 
history may be interesting to the 
present and especially to the ris- 
ing generation; yet it is proper 
to remark that I have two lead- 
ing objects chiefly in view — first, 
to convince the world, that who- 
ever might be the cause of the 
Indian war in 1774, it was nut 
Capt. Cresap; secondly, that from 
the aspect of our political affairs, 
at that period, and from the 
known hostility of Dunmore to 
the American Revolution, and 
withal to the subsequent con- 
duct of Dunmore, and the dread- 
ful Indian war that commenced 
soon after the beginning of our 
war with Great Britain — I say, 
from all these circumstances, we 
have infinitely stronger reasons 
to suspect Dunmore than Cresap; 
and I may >a\ that the di - pa 1 :h s 
above mentioned that were re- 
ceived b} Dunmore at rlockhock- 
ing, alth ugh afLr the treaty, 
were yet calculated to create sus- 
picion. 

But if, as we suppose, Dun 
more was secretl) at the bottom 
of this Indian war, it is evident 
that he could not with propriet; 
appear personally 7 in a business 
of this kind; and we have seen 
and shall see, how effectually his 
sub-governor played his part be- 
tween the Virginians and Penn- 
sylvanians; and it now remains 
for us to examine how far the 
conduct of this man (Connolly) 
will bear us out in the supposi- 



21 



tion that there was also some 
foul play, some dark intriguing 
work to embroil the western 
country in an Indian war." 

Hon. V. A. Lewis who is the 
author of the History of the 
Virginias compiled in Hardesty's 
Historical and Geographical En- 
cylopedian ot 1883 pays the fol- 
lowing tribute to the Battle of 
Point Pleasant: 

"To the student of history no 
truth is more patent than this, 
that the battle of Point Pleasant, 
was, the first in the series of the 
Revolution, the flames of which 
were being kindled by the op- 
pression of the mother country 
and the resisfance of the same 
by the feeble but determined 
colonies. It is a well known fact 
that the emisaries of Great Bri- 
tain were then inciting the In- 
dians to hostilities against the 
frontier for the purpose of dis- 
tracting attention, and thus pre- 
venting the consumation of the 
Union which was then being 
formed to resist the tyranny of 
their armed oppression. It is 
also well known that Lord Dun- 
more was an enemy of the colo- 
nists, by his rigid adherence to 
the royal cause and his efforts 
to induce the Indians to co-oper- 
ate with the English, and thus 
assist in reducing Virginia to 
subjection. It has been assert- 
ed that he intentionally delayed 
the progress of the left wing of 
the army that the right might be 



destroyed at Point Pleasant. 
Then at the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha river on the 19th (10th) 
day of October, 1774, there went 
whizzing through the forrest the 
first volley of a struggle for lib- 
erty, which, in the granduer and 
importance of its results, stands 
without parallel in the history 
of the world. On that day the 
soil upon which Point Pleasant, 
now stands drank the first blood 
shed in defense of American lib- 
erty, and it was there decided 
that the decaying institutions of 
the Middle Ages should not pre- 
vail in America, but that just 
laws and priceless liberty should 
be planted forever in the domains 
of the New World. 

Historians, becoming engross- 
ed with the more stirring scenes 
of the Revolution, have failed to 
consider the sanguinay battle in 
its true import and bearing upon 
the destiny of our country, for- 
getting, that the Colonial army 
returned home only to enlist in 
the patriot army and on almost 
every battlefield of the Revolu- 
tion were representatives of that 
little band who stood face to face 
with the savage allies of Great 
Britian at Point Pleasant." 

And, in conclusion, Kercheval 
says, at page 139, "I say, from 
all which it will appear that Dun- 
more had his views, and those 
views hostile to the liberties of 
America, in his proceedings with 
the Indians in the war of 1774, 



22 



the circumstances of tbe times, 
in connection w ith his eqnivocai 
conduct, leads us almost natur- 
ally to infer that he knew pretty 
well what he was about, and 
among- other thing's, he knew 
that a war with the Indians at 
this time would materially sub- 
serve the views and interest of 
Great Britain, and consequently 
he perhaps might teel it a duty 
to promote said war, and if not, 
why betray such extreme solici- 
tude to single out some conspicu- 
ous character, and make him 
the scape-goat, to bear all the 
blame of this war, that he and 
his friend Connolly might es- 
cape?" 

Nothing- could more fittingly 
describe the patriotic senti- 
ment fell in Virginia than the 
heroic appeal of Mrs. Wra. 
Lewis. It is related of her 
that "When the British force 
under Tarleton drove the legis- 
lature from Charlottesville to 
Staunton, the stillness of the 
Sabbath eve was broken in the 
latter town by the beat of the 
drum, and volunteers were call- 
ed for to prevent the passage of 
the British through the moun- 
tains at Rockfish Gap. The 
elder sons of Wm. Lewis, who 
then resided at the old fort, were 
absent with the northern army. 
Three sons, however, were at 
home, whose ages were 17, 15 
and 13 years. Wm. Lewis was 
confined to his room by sickness, 
but his wife, with the firmness 



of a Roman matron, called them 
to her, and bade them fly to the 
defence of their native land. 
"Go my children.' said she, "I 
spare not mv youngest, my fair- 
haired boy, the comfort ot my 
declining years. I devote you 
all to my country. Keep back 
the foot of the invader from the 
soil of Augusta, or see my face 
no more." When this incident 
was related to Washington, 
shortly after its occurrence, he 
enthusiastically exclaimed, 
"Leave me but a banner to^plant 
upon the mountains of Augusta, 
and I will rally around me the 
men w 7 ho will lift our bleeding 
country from the dust, and set 
her free." Howe's Virginia, 
its History and Antiquities, p. 
183. 

From Wither's Border War- 
fare we quote: "The army un- 
der Gen. Lewis had endured 
many privations and suffered 
many hardships. They had en- 
countered a savage enemy in 
great force, and purchased a 
victory with the blood of their 
friends. When arrived near to 
the goal of their anxious wishes, 
and with nothing to prevent the 
accomplishment of the object of 
the campaign, they received 
those orders with evident chag- 
rin, and did not obey them with- 
out murmuring. Having, at his 
own request, been introduced 
severally to the officers of that 
division, complimenting them for 



23 



their gallantry and good conduct 
in the late engagement, and as- 
suring them of his high esteem, 
Lord Dun more returned to bis 
Camp; and Gen. Lewis commen- 
ced his retreat. " 

"This battle (says Col. Stuart, 
in his historical memoir) was, in 
fact, the beginning of the revo- 
lutionary war, that obtained for 
our country the liberty and in- 
dependence enjoyed by the 
United States — and a good pres- 
age of future success; for it is 
well known that the Indians were 
influenced by the British to com- 
mence the war to terrify and con- 
found the people, before they 
commenced hostilities them- 
selves the following year at Lex- 
ington. It was thought by Brit- 
ish politicians, that to excite an 
"Indian war would prevent a 
combination of the colonics for 
opposing parliamentary meas- 
ures to tax the Americans. 
The blood, therefore, spilt upon 
this memorable battlefield, will 
long ^e remembered by the good 
people of Virginia and the United 
States with gratitude." 

Virgil A. Lewis, West Virgin- 
ia State Historian and Archivest, 
says, in his History of West 
Virginia, published in 1889, at 
page 133, "To the student of 
history no truth is more patent 
than this, that the battle of 
Point Pleasant was the first in 
the series of the Revolution, the 
flames of which were then being 



kindled by the oppression of the 
mother country, and the resist- 
ance of the same by the feeble 
but determined colonies. It is a 
well known fact that emissaries 
of Great Britain were then incit- 
ing the Indians to hostilities 
against the frontier for the pur- 
pose of distracting attention and 
thus preventing the consuma- 
tion of the union which was then 
being formed to resist the tyran- 
ny of their armed oppressors. 
It is also well known that Lord 
Dunmore was an enemy to the 
colonists, by his rigid adherence 
to the royal cause and his efforts 
to induce the Indians to co-oper- 
ate with the English, and thus 
assist in reducing Virginia to 
subjection. It has been assert- 
ed that he intentionally delayed 
the progress of the left wing of 
the army that the right might 
be destroyed at Point Pleasant. 
Then, at the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha river, on the 10th day 
of October, 1774, there went 
whizzing through the forest the 
first volley of a struggle for lib- 
erty which, in the grandeur and 
importance of its results, stands 
without a parellel in the history 
of the world. On that day the 
soil on which Point Pleasant now 
stands drank the first blood, shed 
in defence of American liberty, 
and it was there decided that the 
decaying institutions of the Mid- 
dle Ages should not prevail in 
America, but that just laws and 



24 



priceless liberty should be plant- 
ed forever in tbe domains of the 
New World. Historians, becom- 
ing engrossed with the more 
stirring scenes of the Revolution, 
have failed to consider this san- 
guinary battle in its true import 
and bearing upon the destiny of 
our country, forgetting that the 
colonial army returned home on- 
ly to enlist in the patriot army, 
and on almost ever}' battle-field 
of the Revolution represented 
that little band wno stood tace to 
face with the savage allies of 
Great Britain at Point Pleasant. ' 

Owing to the importance of 
the question, we have, at the 
risk of tiring the reader, given 
these many details of evidence 
that the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
while not a battle between the 
English and Colonial forces, 
nevertheless shed the first blood 
on American soil for national in- 
dependence. It can be plain- 
ly seen that, though at this time 
these sturdy pioneers were fight- 
ing to protect their homes and 
firesides, the very foundation 
of national government, Great 
Britain, through her Tory Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, intended thus 
to destroy the flower of the Col- 
onial army of Virginia. It was 
a stroke which, had it succeeded, 
would have averted the War of 
the Revolution many years. 
The army that Lewis gathered 
were not the unlettered men of 
the forest, — they were from 



among the most highly educated 
men of the colony and it is said 
that, to this date, in no army of 
a similar number, has such a 
large percentage had a knowl- 
edge of the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages. That they were men 
of education and influence will 
be seen by following the survi- 
vors of that battle, not only 
through the Revolution, where 
manv of them distinguished 
themselves, but out into the civ- 
il life of the country, during, and 
subsequent to, the Revolution. 

That the battle was the most 
fruitful, in its results, of any 
battle ever fought upon Ameri- 
can soil, is apparent from the 
historv of the country. The 
great Northwest Territory, ly- 
ing north of the Ohio and east 
of the Mississippi, had long been 
a bone of contention between 
France and England and France 
did not relinquish her claim un- 
til driven to recede as the result 
of the battle upon the Plains of 
Abraham before Quebec, where 
the intrepid Montcalm was de- 
feated by the invincible Wolffe. 

The treaty that followed at 
Paris, in 1763, ceded all this terri 
tory to England, whose failure 
to open it to the colonists was 
a subject of discussion and dis- 
trust and rightfully so, as En- 
gland maintained it to the ex- 
clusion of the colonists, not only 
that she might, with it, subsidize 
the savage Indians, but when 



25 



necessary, secure their services 
in maintaining - control of the col- 
onies. 

By the treaty that followed the 
battle of Point Pleasant, that of 
Camp Charlotte, the federation of 
the five great nations in control 
of that territory ceded it to Vir- 
ginia, to hold inviolate, and which 
treaty lasted without interrup- 
tion for three years, enabling 
the colonists not only to 
enter the Northwest Territor, 
but to colonize Kentucky and 
Tennessee. In Dunmore's ar- 
my was the intrepid George Rod- 
gers Clarke, a Virginian, the 
Hanibal of the West, who was 
present at the treaty of Camp 
Charlotte. The history of the 
colonization and civilization of 
this territory is the history of 
Geo. Kcdgers Clarke, too well 
known here for extended com- 
ment. Suffice it to say that, in 
the struggle led by Clarke to 
drive the British from the North- 
west Territory, it was not the 
colonies, but Virginia, protect- 
ing her own territory, acquired 
by the battle of Point Pleasant, 
that furnished the army for 
Clark's expedition, Governor, 
Patrick Henry supplying Clarke 
from Virginia's funds, the sum of 
twelve hundred pounds, and 
supplies of boots and ammun- 
tion from Pittsburg, then in 
Virginia. Could any army have 
displayed more heroism, an 
army of one hundred and 
fifty, starting out to conquer 



such a wilderness, with no con- 
veyance for their munitions of 
war, save their own robust and 
hardy bodies? 

The subjugation of this coun- 
try was not only comparatively 
broad in its results, but was due 
alone to Virginia. Of course, 
such a vast territory opened up, 
as it thus was, to civilization and 
habitation, necessarily called for 
representation in the Congress of 
the infant nation, and justly so. 
Virginia would soon, by her 
great population, control the leg- 
islation of the nation. Such, how- 
ever, was not the purpose of Vir- 
ginia. That ever generous 
mother state here had opportun- 
ity to be the most mag- 
nanimous of them all. She 
would not, if she could, dominate 
the policy of the country, and, 
without a dollar, she donated, ac- 
tually gave away to the colonies 
in fee simple the entire North- 
west Territory, to be the terri- 
tory of the colonists, and to be 
disposed of as they deemed best 

When we review the acquisi- 
tion of the other territory of the 
United States and compare the 
$15,000,000, expended by our 
government, for the Louisiana 
purchase, the cost of the acqui- 
sition of upper and lower Cali- 
fornia, of Alaska, of the Phillip- 
pines, of the cost of the Mexican 
acquisition in men and money, 
and then remember that the 
settlement of the states of Ken- 



26 



tucky and Tennessee were made 
possible, as well as the colouiza 
tion of Western Pennsylvania and 
Western Virginia, together with 
the acquisition of the Northwest 
Territory, and the settlement 
and civilization of the same, and 
all as a sequel of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, considering the 
history of the ever memorable 
struggle and the subsequent de- 
velopment of the country, it is 
very apparent not only that the 
Battle of Point Pleasant was the 
initial, the first battle of the 
Revolution, but also farther 
reaching in its results than 
any other battle ever fought upon 
the American continent. 

As we have said before, no offi- 
cial report of the battle was ever 
made, but a letter from Williams- 
burg, Va., then the seat of gov- 
ernment, under date of No- 
vember 10, 1774, was publish- 
ed in the Belfast News Let- 
ter, yet preserved. Presum- 
ably, it was contributed to that 
paper because many of the 
Scotch-Irish had emigrated from 
Belfast, Ulster District, to Penn- 
sylvania and ultimately to Vir- 
ginia and settled in the sections 
of Virginia from which the army 
had been for the most part been 
made up. This made the event 
peculiarly interesting to the peo- 
ple of that portion of Ireland. 
From that publication w 7 e quote 
the history of the battle: 
'•BELFAST. 

Yesterday arrived a mail from 



New York, brought to Falmouth 
by the Harriot packet boat. 
Capt. Lee. 

Williamsburg, Va., 

November 10th. 

The following letter is just re- 
ceived here from the camp at 
Point Pleasant, at the mouth of 
the Great Kenbawa (as then 
spelled), dated October 17, 1774: 

"The following is a true state- 
ment of a battle fought at this 
place on the 10th instant: On 
Monday morning, about half an 
hour before sunrise, two of Capt. 
Russell's company discovered a 
large party of Indians about a 
mile from the camp, one of which 
men was shot down by the In- 
dians; the other made his escape, 
and brought in the intelligence. 
In two or three minutes after, 
two of Capt. Shelby's company 
came in and confirmed the ac- 
count. 

' ; Col. Andrew Lewis, being 
informed thereof immediately 
ordered out Col. Charles Lewis, 
to take command of one hundred 
and fifty of the Augusta troops, 
and with him went Capt. Dickin- 
son, Capt. Harrison, Capt. Wil- 
son, Capt. John Lewis of Agusta, 
and Capt. Lockridge, which 
made tbe first division. Col. 
Fleming was also ordered to 
take command of one hundred 
and fifty more of the Botetourt, 
Bedford and Fincastle troops.: 
Capt. Thomas Buford, from Bed- 
ford; Capt Love, of Botetourt; 



27 



Capt. Shelby and Capt. Russell, 
of Fincastle, which made the 
second division. 

"Col.- Charles Lewis' division 
inarched to the right, some dis- 
tance from the Ohio, and Col. 
Fleming, with his division on the 
bank oi the Ohio, to the, left. 

"Col. Charles Lewis' division 
had not marched quite half a 
mile from the camp when, about 
sunrise, an attack was made on 
the front of his division, in a 
most vigorous manner, by the 
united tribes of Indians — Shaw- 
nees, Delawares, Mingoes, Ta 
was, and of several other nations 
— in number not less than eight 
hundred, and by many thought 
to be one thousand. 

"In this heavy attack, Col. 
Charles Lewis received a wound 
which, in a few hours caused his 
death, and several of his men fell 
on the spot; in fact, Augusta di- 
vision was obliged to give way 
to the heavy fire of the enemy. 
In about a second of a minute 
after the attack on Col. Lewis' 
division, the enemy engaged the 
front of Col. Fleming's division, 
on the Ohio, and in a short time 
the Colonel received two balls 
through his left arm, and one 
through his breast, and, after 
animating the officers and sol- 
diers in a most calm manner to 
the pursuit of victory, retired to 
the camp. 

"The loss in the field was sen- 
sibly felt by the officers in parti- 



cular; but the Augusta troops, 
being shortly after reinforced 
from the camp by Col. Field, 
with bis company, together with 
Capt. McDowell, Capt. Mathews 
and Capt. Stewart, from Augus- 
ta; Capt. Paulin, Capt. Arbuckle 
and Capt. McClannahan, from 
Botetourt, the enemy no longer 
able to maintain their ground, 
was forced to give way till they 
were in a line witn the troops, 
Col. Fleming being left in action 
on the bank of the Ohio. 

"In this precipitate retreat 
Col. Field was killed. During 
this time, which was till after 
twelve, the action in a small de- 
gree abated, but continued, ex- 
cept at short intervals, sharp 
enough* till after 1 o'clock. 
Their long retreat gave them a 
most advantageous spot of 
ground, from whence it appear- 
ed to the officers so difficult to 
dislodge them that it was thought 
most advisable to stand as the 
line was then formed, which was 
about a mile and a quarter in 
length, and had sustained till 
then a constant and equal weight 
of the action, from wing to wing. 

"It was till about half an hour 
till sunset they continued firing 
on us scattering shots, which we 
returned to their disadvantage. 
At length, the night coming on, 
they found a safe retreat. 

' 'They had not the satisfaction 
of carrying off any of our men's 
scalps, save one or two strag- 



28 



glers whom they killed before 
the engagement. Many of their 
dead the}' scalped, rather than 
we should have them, but our 
troops scalped upwards of twen- 
ty of their men that were first 
killed. 

"It is beyond doubt their loss, 
in number, far exceeded ours, 
which is considerable. 

"The return of the killed and 
wounded in the above battle, 
same as our last, as follows: 

— Killed — Colonels Charles 
Lewis and John Field, Captains 
John Murray, R. McClannahan, 
Samuel Wilson, James Ward, 
y Lieut. Hugh Allen, ensigns Can- 
tiff and Bracken, and forty-four 
privates. Total killed, fifty three. 

"Wounded— Col. William Flem- 
ing, Captains John Dickinson, 
Thomas Buford and I. Skidman 
Lieutenants Goldman, Robinson, 
Lard and Vance, and seventy- 
nine privates. Total wounded, 
eighty-seven; killed and wounded 
one hundred and forty." 

And further from the same 
publication : 

"AMERICA. 

Williamsburg, in Virginia, 
December 1, 1774. 

We have it from good authori- 
ty that his excellency, the gover- 
nor, is on his way to this capital, 
having concluded a peace with 
the several tribes of Indians that 
have been at war with us, and 
taken hostages of them for their 
faithful complying with terms of 



it, the principal of which are 
that they shall totally abandon 
the lands on this side of the Ohio 
river, which, river is to be the 
boundary between them and the 
white people, and never more 
take up the hatchet against the 
English.". 

"Thus, in a little more than 
the space of five months, an end 
is put to a war which portended 
much trouble and mischief to the 
inhabitants on the frontier, ow- 
ing to the zeal and good conduct 
of the officers and commanders 
who went out in their country's 
defense and the bravery and 
perseverance of all the troops. ' 
Copied from the Belfast News 
Letter of February 10. 1775." 

De Hass, in describing the 
battle, says: 

"The battle scene was now 
terribly grand. There stood 
the combatants — terror, rage, 
disappointment and despair riv- 
eted upon the painted faces of 
one, while calm resolution and 
the unbending will to do or die 
were marked upon the other. 
Neither party would retreat, 
neither could advance. The 
noise of the firing was tremend- 
ous: — no single gun could be dis- 
tinguished—was one common 
roar. The rifle and the toma- 
hawk now did their work with 
dreadful certainty. The confu- 
sion and perturbation . of the 
camp had now arrived at its 
greatest height. The confused 



29 



* sounds and wilcj uproar of the 
battle added greatly to the ter- 
ror of the scene. The shouting 
of the whites, the continued roar 
of firearms, the war-whoops and 
dismal yelling of the Indians, 
were discordant and terrific." 

Col. J. L. Peyton, in his valu- 
able history of Augusta county, 
says: 

"It w 7 as, throughout, a terrible 
scene — the ring of rifles and the 
roar of muskets, the clubbed 
guns, the flashing knives — the 
fight, hand to hand — the scream 
for mercy, smothered in the 
death-groan — the crushing 
through the brush — the advance 
— the retreat — the pursuit, every 
man for himself, with his enemy 
in view — the scattering on every 
side— the sounds of battle, dying 
aw T ay into a pistol shot here and 
there through the wood, and a 
shriek the collecting again of 
the whites, covered with gore 
and sweat, bearing trophies of 
the slain, their dripping knives 
in one hand, and rifle-barrel, 
bent and smeared with brains 
and hair, in the other. No lan- 
guage can adequately describe 
it." 

Mr. Stephen T. Mitchell in 
1827 in a publication, "The 
Spirit of the Old Dominion" pub- 
lished at Richmond Virginia 
gives the following account of 
the battle of Point Pleasant. 

"We landed about a mile on the 
left-hand shore of Kanawha, and 



climbing a large hill, we were 
saluted by a hundred Indians, 
encamped upon the top. Our 
captors told their adventures, no 
doubt, with every aggravation; 
for, after the most frantic ex- 
pressions of grief and rage, I 
was bound to a tree, a large pine 
tree, which stands to this day 
upon the brow of the hill, and 
the fire was kindled around me. 
I said my prayers; my time was 
come; my body felt the scorching 
heat: but, by a miraculous inter- 
position of Providence, the clouds 
which had been lowering all day, 
now burst out in showers, and 
quenched the flames. The In- 
dians thought the Great Spirit 
looked over me, and directed the 
shower for my safety. My 
bonds were loosened, and 1 was 
allowed a little jirk and hommony 
for my refreshment. The next 
day I could perceive some great 
expedition on foot; the Indians 
were running to and fro in every 
direction; some grinding paint 
and some cleaning up their arms; 
and even the squaws and little 
boys were providing themselves 
with hatchets and scalping- 
knives, and strewing themselves 
from the Ohio river all along the 
cliffs of Kanawha/' 

"Late in the evening, I saw an 
uncommon anxiety on the faces 
of the savages; councils, grand 
and petty, were held in various 
places, and so completely were 
my guards absorbed in the tin- 



30 



dertaking which was at hand, 
that they became entirely remiss 
in their attentions to me. I re- 
solved to seize the propitious 
moment, and make my escape. 
I sprang- on my feet and ran as 
fast as my legs would carry me. 
A loud whoop proclaimed the 
event, arid in a moment, I could 
perceive myself closely pursued 
by half a dozen athletic young 
fellows, with uplifted tomahawks. 
Fear added to my limbs the 
agility of the deer. With my 
head turned back over one 
shoulder, I bounded through the 
pine-trees" until my speed had 
carried me unawares to the brink 
of a precipice. I tried to stop; 
it was too late; I gave a piercing 
shriek and bounded over. A 
rushing sound in my ears like 
the roaring of a mill-dam, then 
the crashing of branches and 
limbs recalled me to my recollec- 
tion, and I found myself to my 
inexpressible delight, breaking 
my way through the thick 
branches of a buck-eye tree. I 
alighted without injury, and look- 
ing back upon the cliff above, 
could see my savage pursuers 
gaping over the precipice in 
amazement. I gave not a second 
look, but darted off towards the 
point with a heart swelling with 
praise to the great Creator, who 
had thus twice rescued me so 
miraculously from my enemies. 
Arriving at the mouth of the 
Kanawha, I shouted aloud for 



assistance. But, the whites had 
too often been decoyed by their 
own people to the savages, to be 
easily imposed upon. They an- 
swered me tbey could give no as- 
sistance. I could not swim, 
but my ingenuity, never fer- 
tile in expedients, befriended me 
now for the first time in my life. 
I rolled down a dry log from the 
bank into the water, and getting 
astride of it, I managed by great 
exertion of hands and feet, to 
row it across the stream, which 
at that time, from the great 
height of the Ohio, was as still 
as a mill-pond I was received 
by General Lewis, the command- 
ant of the fort, with great cor- 
diality and affection; and, being 
naked and necessitous, I enrolled 
myself as a regular in the corps; 
and, being dressed in militaire, 
with a tremendous rifle in my 
hand and a thick breast work 
before me, I felt as brave as 
Julius Ceasar." 

The Battle of Point Pleasant 
"I was in hopes that I might en- 
joy, within the walls of a fort, 
some respite from the fears, 
toils and anexieties which had, 
for the last two weeks, worn me 
out both body and mind. But he 
who undertakes to settle in a 
new and savage country, must 
look out for no such respite, un- 
til, by hardihood and persever- 
ance, he has levelled the forest, 
with its inhabitants, to the earth. 
On the 10th of October, 1774, 



31 



about sun-rise, the hunters came 
in at fuJl speed, and gave the 
appalling information that a large 
body of Indians had spread them- 
selves from river to river, and 
were advancing by slow degrees, 
towards the fort; at the same 
instant, we could observe the 
women and boys skulking up and 
down the opposite banks of the 
Ohio and Kanawha. 

The position of the fort was 
peculiarly favourable to a sur- 
prise. As I have abuve mention- 
ed, it was situated at a right an- 
gular point formed by the con- 
fluence of the Kanawha and Ohio 
rivers. The country above the 
fort was covered with a heavy 
forest and impervious growth of 
underwood, through which an 
invading force might penetrate 
completely undiscovered, to the 
very walls of the fort. The gar- 
rison was composed of about 
twelve hundred men entirely 
Virginians, from the counties of 
Botetourt and Augusta. The 
Indians consisted of about the 
same number, the flower of the 
Shawnee, Wyandotte and Min- 
goe tribes, who were command- 
ed by the celebrated Chieftain, 
Cornstalk. 1 ' 

"From the large force which he 
had collected for this expedition, 
and from the secrecy of his 
movements, it was evident that 
the Indian Chief, in this desper- 
ate attempt to recover the coun- 
try east of the Ohio river, medi- 



tated nothing less than an entire 
extermination of the garrison. 
General Lewis ordered out about 
seven hundred of his rangers, 
under the command of his neph- 
ew, Colonel Charles Lewis; with 
the remaining part of his troops, 
about five hundred in number, 
he determined to act as a reserve 
and defend the fort to extremi- 
ties." 

"I happened to be among those 
who were ordered out, very 
much against my will; but it was 
neck or nothing; we advanced 
about three hundred yards in 
front of the fort, toward a deep 
ravine which intersected the val- 
ley at the right angles with the 
Kanawha. All was still as death; 
one moment more and a yell min- 
gled with the roar of a thousand 
rifles, rung from river to river, 
and at the same moment every 
bush and tree seemed alive with 
armed savages. Col. Lewis was 
killed at the first fire, but the 
rangers mantained their ground, 
and a contest commenced more 
desperate and more rapidly fatal 
than any which had ever been 
fought with the Aboriginese, ex- 
cepting that of Talledaga. The 
Indian Chief, with that prompt- 
ness for seizing an advantage, 
and that peculiar military tact 
for which he was so much re- 
nowned, extended his line from 
the Ohio as far as it would 
stretch across to the Kanawha 
bank, for the purpose of out- 



4 



32 



flanking the opposing' forces. 
But, in the execution of this ma- 
noeuvre, he was completely 
foiled by the superior address 
and boldness of the whites who, 
animated with revenge for the 
loss of their leader and a con- 
sciousness of their desperate 
situation, fought with a fury 
that supplied the inequality of 
numbers, and set at defiance 
every stratagem of the savages.'' 
"Finding that his method of 
outflanking would not succeed, 
the Indian Chief concentrated 
his forces, and furiously attacked 
the centre of the Virginia line. 
The savages, animated by their 
warlike and noble Chieftan, 
Cornstalk, forgot the craftiness 
of their nature, and rushing 
from their coverts, engaged hand 
to hand with their stout and 
hardy adversaries, until the 
contest resembled more a cir- 
cus of gladiators than a field of 
battle. I became desperate; hide 
where I would, the muzzle of 
some rifle was gaping in my 
face, and the wild, distorted 
countenance of a savage, render- 
he more frightful by paint, was 
trushing towards me with uplift- 
ed tomahawk One fellow in 
particular, seemed to mark me 
as his victim; I levelled m}- rifle 
at him as he came yelling and 
leaping towards me, and fired. 
The ball missed rny aim. He 
rose upon his toes with exulta- 
tion, and whirling his tomahawk 



round his head, slung it at me 
with all his powers. I fell upon 
my face, and it whizzed harmless 
over my head and stuck into a 
sapling. I bounded up and 
forced it from the tree, but the 
Indian was on me and rescued 
the hatchet from my hands. I 
seized him round the waist, en- 
closing both his arms at the 
same time and tripping up his 
heels, we rolled tog-ether upon 
the ground. I at last grew 
furious, gouged him with my 
thumbs in both eyes, and seizing 
him with my teeth by the nose, 
I bit the whole of it from his 
face; he yelled out with pain a-id 
rage, and letting loose the hatch- 
et to disengage my teeth, I 
grasped the handle and buried 
the sharp point into his brains. 
He gave one convulsive leap 
which bounced me from his 
body, and in a moment after ex- 
pired. I immediately rose, and 
gaining a secure position behind 
a tree, remained there till the 
close of the fight, and made a 
thousand resolutions, if I sur- 
vived this engagement, never to 
be caught in such a scrape again. 
I kept my word; for, I have never 
since encountered the savages, 
and if Heaven forgives me, I 
never will. There is no fun in 
it." 

"But, to return to the history 
of this ever memorable battle. 
There was a peninsula extend- 
ing from a high range of hills, 



33 



running- parallel with the Ohio 
river, which jutted close to the 
Kanawha bank, about a half a 
mile from its mouth. Knowing 
the importance of securing the 
narrow pass which ran between 
its base and the river, the Indian 
Chief despatched a picked body 
of his troops to take possession 
of it. They entered the dry bed 
of a small creek which skirted 
the foot of the hills, and pursued 
their route unnoticed till they 
were about to enter the import- 
ant pass, when a shower of rifle 
bullets pierced their body and 
swept down the foremost ranks. 
A chosen band of rangers at the 
same moment made their appear- 
ance, with whom General Lewis 
in anticipation had guarded the 
pass. A yell of surprise and 
rage burst from the savage line, 
and they seconded their return- 
ing fire by an unanimous and 
desperate charge with the hunt- 
ing-knife. The contest now as- 
sumed all the wild and terrific' 
cast which a personal strug-gle, 
conducted with the deadly feel- 
ings of hate and revenge then 
existing between the whites and 
Indians, could inspire. The air 
was filled with the screams of 
the savages and the deep impre- 
cations of the riflemen; every 
blow brought death, and the 
ground was soon heaped with 
the corpses of the combatants. 
But the disappointed efforts of 
savage desperation were inef- 



fectual against the unbroken 
and impenetrable column which 
was maintained by the whites; 
and the Indians were driven, 
with the loss of half their force, 
back upon the main body. - Here, 
the fight still raged in the ex- 
tremity of opposition, every inch 
of ground was contested, from 
behind every bush and decayed 
log the murderous flash arose, 
and the continued roar of a 
thousand rifles vibrated through 
the forest. " 

"The savage Chief tian discover- 
ed that the chances against him 
were desperate, yet, by his own 
personal example of courage and 
address, was the fight long" sus- 
tained, even after his line had 
been driven, step by step, from 
their original position. His voice 
could at intervals be heard, ris- 
ing above the din of the fight like 
the shrill blast of a bugle; at one 
moment, his dusky form and 
glittering ornaments could be 
seen flitting through the trees 
upon the Ohio bank, and his war- 
cry in the next would fill the 
echoes of the hill at the farthest 
extremity of the line. A cheer- 
ing ejaculation of triumph would 
one moment escape him, as an 
advantage was gained by the de- 
voted gallantry of some Shawnee 
warrior; an imprecation upon 
some skulking Mingoe, in a 
short time afterwards, would be 
recognized in his voice. "Charge 
high and aim low" was his com- 



34 



mand incessantly throughout the 
day; and, it is one of the circum- 
stances remarked of that fatal 
fight, that most of the bullet- 
wounds received by the whites 
proved mortal; but few of the 
wounded ever recovered. Yet, 
all the efforts of the old warrior 
were vain; defeated and discour- 
aged, the savage army almost 
abandoned the fight in the latter 
part of the day, and it was re- 
duced to a mere straggling fire 
between individuals of the con- 
tending parties." 

"Xight closed upon the scene, 
yet the ground was still occupied 
by the two armies. Although 
victorious, the Virginians could 
neither press their advantage 
nor retire to rest. An ambus- 
cade or a night attack was ex- 
pected from the savages, and 
their behaviour warranted the 
latter supposition. For, behind 
a long line of watch-fires, they 
could be discovered as if cau- 
tiously examining the points 
most open to attack. The wild 
scream of a savage warrior, ap- 
parently advancing to the fight, 
would at intervals break upon 
the death-like stillness of the 
night, and cause my heart to 
leap almost out of my mouth. I 
confidently calculated that every 
moment was the time for their 
attack, and fancied divers times 
could hear them stealing through 
the bushes upon us. The gleams 
of the morning sun, however, at 



length illumined the scene, but 
not a vestige of the Indian army 
remained; the living and the dead 
had alike disappeared, and it 
was not until then, it was ascer- 
tained or even suspected, that 
the savages had secure them- 
selves from interruption, under 
pretense of a night attack, had 
thrown their dead, with weights 
attached to them, in the river, 
and retreated across it under 
cover of darkness." 

Of the men who participated 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
we regret that no' complete ros- 
ter has been preserved. How- 
ever, the men who were in that 
army were friends and neigh- 
bors, and many of them related 
by ties of blood and marriage, so 
that a review of a few of them 
will indicate the character of the 
men composing the army. 

It will be seen by a review of 
the history of the colonies that 
prior to the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, not only the Colonists 
but England knew, as did Pat- 
rick Henry when he made his 
famous speech that "The War 
was inevitable." The British 
Government seeing the fomenta- 
tion in the colonies had made re- 
peated concessions; willing to re- 
linquish, if necessary, all but the 
principle of the Right of England 
to levy taxes upon the Colonists 
without giving them representa- 
tion in the British Government. 
The Colonists were astir with 



35 



intense excitement. The tea had 
been thrown over board in Bos- 
ton Harbor and the Port had been 
closed by a biJl passed by Parli- 
mentiii'March of thatyear. Meet- 
ings had been and were being held 
protesting against Royal oppres- 
sion. That powerful engine of 
resistance, Committees of Corre- 
spondence had been formulating 
their ideas of resistance and the 
Virginia Assembly convened at 
Williamsburg in May, had pass- 
ed an independant resolution set- 
ting forth that June 1st, 1774, 
should upon the making effective 
of the Port Bill be made "a day 
of fasting and prayer to implore 
the divine interposition for avert- 
ing the heavy calamity, which 
threatens the civil right of 
America;" whereupon, the Earl 
of Dunmore, then Governor of 
Virginia, at once dissolved the 
Assembly. The Continental Con- 
gress had already convened and 
its every breath was ladened 
with resistance of British op- 
pression. 

Is it to be wondered at and 
is it not the most natural 
thing in the world, that Dun- 
more would try to devise ways 
and means to prevent Virginia 
from participating in the federa- 
tion of the Colonies; and what 
more powerful instrument could 
he have set in motion to distract 
their attention from the clouds 
gathering in the East, than by 
setting in motion a band of howl- 



ing Indians on the frontier, 
making it an absolute necessity 
that Virginia protect her homes, 
her women and children and her 
property rights, and this danger 
so eminent, could not be delayed. 
So calling together the fiower of 
the Colonial Army of Virginia, 
which he promised should be 
united and together encounter 
the Indians in their homes, he 
should cause one branch to alone 
be attacked, hoping they would 
thus be destroyed and if only 
temporarially defeated, they 
would be so busy protecting the 
frontier and their homes they 
would have no time to go into 
the Colonial Army, confederated 
as they would be to resist tne Brit- 
ish Army, already many of whom 
were camping upon the plains of 
Boston. But to the surprise of 
Dunmore the Division of Lewis' 
Army was victorious and the tide 
of American interests was 
changed. 

Without the Army of Lewis, 
which was the great mil- 
itary training school of the Colo- 
ny, many of whom went on into 
the Revolution and became many 
of them, officers of high rank, it 
would have -been impossible for 
Virginia to have raised her quoto 
of men and officers to have partici- 
pated in that struggle for liber- 
ty; and without Virginia the 
Colonists would have thought it 
impossible, as it would have been, 
to have undertaken that strug- 



36 



gle for independance. Without 
the entire support that Vir- 
ginia gave George Rodgers Clark 
who was in the Dunmore divis- 
ion, but who later conquered the 
i N orth West Territory, weakening 
the otherwise impregnable back- 
ground that constant!}' threaten- 
ed the frontier and in whose 
territory did not close the strug- 
gle for American Independance 
until Waynes treaty twenty 
years later. 

We think the opinions of the 
early writers of history we have 
quoted, the natural circum- 
stances surrounding Dunmore 
at and previous to the Battle, 
makes it plain that although the 
battle was between the Colonists 
and Indians it is beyond doubt 
the first Battle of the Revolution, 
and the Goverment of the United 
States, while it has been tardy, 
is fulh' justified in making the 
declaration that the S10.000 ap- 
propriated for the erection of a 
monument is 

"An act to aid in the erection 
of a memorial structure at Point 
Pleasant, West Virginia, to com- 
memorate the Battle of the Revo- 
lution, fought at that point be- 
tween the Colonial troops and 
Indians, October 10th, seventeen 
hundred and seventy four." 

While a shaft 82 feet high will 
stand as a sentinel upon the site 
where the dead were buried, form 
whence the battle was directed 
and subsequently the fort, built, 



it is a pigmy as compared with 
the fact that at last, after a lapse 
of One Hundred and thirty-four 
years, the Congress'of the United 
States has officially called it as it 
is a battle of the Revolution, and 
if a battle of the Revolution it 
must of necessity be the first, as 
the hallowed Lexington was not 
fought, until April 19th, 1775, 
while that of Point Pleasant, was 
fought October 10th, 1774. 

The battle in its acquisition 
of territory ceded by the Indians 
and previously ceded by France 
to Virginia but literally in con- 
trol of the Indians until this 
time, this followed by the ceding 
of all the vast territory of the 
Great North West by Virginia 
to the infant republic at the close 
of the Revolution with the cessa- 
tion of Indian hostilities fol- 
lowing the battle, permitting the 
the Colonists to turn their atten- 
tion to the expulsion of the Eng- 
lish army and the overthrow of 
the British yoke, the moral ef- 
fect that it had on Virginia, and 
and thus on the Colonies, made 
it the farthest reaching in its ef- 
fect an battle ever fought 
on the American Continent. 

The name of every man who 
participated in that struggle 
whether he protected the fron- 
tier nearer home while the band 
of stalwarts went forth to con- 
quer the Indians and make se- 
cure the wilderness, the men of 
Wm. Christian's Regiment who 



37 



rendered such valliant service, 
comingas they did whenthebattle 
was over, the army exhausted 
wounded and bleeding and in 
time to gather up and bury the 
slain, should all be honored and 
preserved. Christain's men were 
only delayed by their effort to 
bring in supplies to the Army of 
54000 pounds of flour on 400 pack 
horses but 108 additional head of 
cattle. They expected to join 



Lewis Army and together march 
on to encounter the Indians 
upon the Pickaway Planes; 
so that as a part of the Army 
they are entitled to be enrolled 
with the heroes of that battle, 
which will be followed by the 
roster so far as the writer has 
been able to glean from all avail- 
able sources, after many years 
of careful research. 



GENERAL ANDREW LEWIS 



Biographical 



General Andrew Lewis 

Gen. Andrew Lewis, the hero 
of the Battle was not only a gen- 
tleman of education and refine- 
ment, but was a past master in 
the art of military tactics, hav- 
ing entered upon his career in 
1742 as Captain of Malitia and 
ten years later as head of Mali- 
tia of his county. He was with 
Washington at Great Meadows 
•and Fort Necessity in 1754, 
when he was twice wounded. 
In 1755, he was detailed to build 
forts hence was not present at 
Braddock's disaster. In 1756, 
he led the Big Sandy expedition 
against the Shawnees. In 1758, 
when, with Washington and Gen. 
Forbes, at Fort DuQuesne, he 
was wounded. 

He surrendered to a French 
officer, was imprisoned at Mon- 
treal, was exchanged and saw 
active service. In 1762 at his 
request his company was dis- 



banded. In 1763 he was ap- 
pointed to Lieut, for Augusta 
Co, 

We next find him a member of 
the Virginia House of Burgesses 
and a member of a committee to 
negotiate treaties. It was while 
thus engaged at the treaty of 
Fort Stanwix that the Governor 
of New York said o? him, "He 
looks like a genius of the forest, 
and, the very ground seems to 
tremble under him as he walks 
along." It is from Col. Stewart, 
his biographer, we learn that 
''He was upwards of *ix feet 
high, of uncommon stren*r< h Mid 
agility, and his form of t h 1 n st 
exact symmetry He had h 
stern countenance and was of a 
reserved and distant deportment, 
which rendered his presence 
more awful than engaging." 
While Mr. Alexander Reed, of 
Rockbridge County, Virginia, 
who was with him at Point 



40 



Pleasant, describes him thus; 
"He was a man of reserved man- 
ners, and great dignity of char- 
acter — somewhat of the order of 
General Washington." General 
Washington held him in such es- 
teem that tie recommended that 
he be made commander-in-chief 
of the Continental army. 

The Battle of Point Pleasant 
was not only the pivotal point in 
the life of the nation, but in the 
life of General Lewis as well. 
Heretofore he had fought as a 
British subject. In defying the 
orders of Lord Dunmore, the 
Tory Governor, he was not only 
among the first to defy Briton, 
but the first to take up arms in 
defiance of British authority and 
from this time on we find bim 
enlisted in the cause of the col- 
onists as against the English 
Crown. It seems the irony of 
fate that he should not have 
lived to witness the surrender at 
Yorktown. While enroute home 
he died of a fever at the home of 
bis friend, Col. Buford, and was 
taken to his own estate "Rich- 
field" where his remains were 
interred Sept. 20, 1731, near the 
town of Salem, where they re- 
posed for many years in an un- 
marked and neglected grave. 
A few years ago, the Ladies of 
the Margaret Lynn Lewis Chap- 
ter, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, of Roanoke, Virginia, 
had his remains (which were 
found well preserved) removed 



to the East Hill Salem Cemetery, 
where, in 1902, they erected a 
stately shaft to his memory. 
One of the six figures of Roger's 
equestrian statute at Richmond, 
commemorating famous Virgin- 
ians, is that of General Andrew 
Lewis, but the greatest of his 
monuments is builded in the 
hearts of a grateful American 
Republic. 

Beside his brother Col. Charles 
Lewis, and John, son of his 
brother William, Andrew had 
three sons in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. What greater love 
can a man have for his country 
than, like Jacob of old, to lay his 
sons as a sacrifice on his coun- 
try's altar? 

Col. Charles Lewis 

While Andrew Lewis is known 
as the "Hero of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant," his brother, 
Col. Charles Lewis, a brave sol- 
dier, too, was called "The idol 
of the army." While Andrew 
had devoted his life to the cause 
of his adopted country, he hav- 
ing been born in Ireland where 
his parents were then residing, 
it was reserved for Col. Charles 
to embody the completeness of 
American association, he having 
been born.,, in America, being 
the youngest child of John Lewis 
and Margaret Lynn Lewis. 
Thus he had the distinction not 
only of dying on American soil, 
but als o of having been born 
there: in 1733, in the county of 

i 



41 



Augusta, State of Virginia, and 
was thus all his life known of 
Virginia, loved of Virginia and 
he sacrificed his life, satisfied 
that he had given to Virginia 
her full measure of devotion. 
He was mortally wounded while 
leading a division of the army at 
the outset of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant and later was led to his 
tent where in a few hours he ex- 
pired. Col. Andrew Lewis, his 
nephew who was engaged in the 
battle, says "He received his 
wound early in the action but 
dfd not let it be known until he 
had gotton the line of battle ex- 
tended from the Ohio to Crooked 
Creek, after which he asked 
Captain Murray, his brother in 
law, to let him lean on his shoul- 
der and walk with him to his 
tent, where he expired about 12 
o'clock." Captain A r buckle 
states that he received a wound 
which in a few hours caused his 
death. Roosevelt's winning of 
the West says "The attack fell 
first and with especial fury, on 
the division of Charles Lewis 
who himself was mortally wound- 
ed at the very outset, he had not 
taken a tree (the frontier expres- 
sion for covering oneself behind 
a tree trunk) but was in an open 
piece of ground, cheering on his 
men when he was shot. He 
stayed with them until the line 
was formed, and then walked 
back to camp unassisted, giving 
his gun to a man who was near 



him " Howe says of him. 
"Charles Lewis was esteemed 
the most skillful of all the lead- 
ers oFTHe border warfare and 
was as much beloved for his 
noble and amiable qualities as he 
was admired for his military 
talents." On page 182 of 
Howe's Virginia Its History & 
Antiquities, we find a sketch 
from his life; 

"Charles Lewis, the youngest 
son of John, is said never to have 
spent one month at a time out of 
active and arduous service. 
Charles was the hero of many 
a gallant exploit, which is 
still treasured in the memories 
of the descendants of the bor- 
der riflemen, and there are few 
families among the Alleghanies 
where the name and deeds of 
Charles Lewis are not familiar 
as household words. On one oc- 
casion, Charles was captured by 
the Indians while on a hunting 
excursion, and after having trav- 
eled some two hundred miles, 
barefoot, his arms pinioned be- 
hind him, goaded on by the 
knives of his remorseless cap- 
tors, he effected his escape. 
While traveling along the bank 
of a precipice some twenty feet 
in height, he suddenly, by a 
strong muscular exertion, burst 
the cords which bound him, and 
plunged down the steep into the 
bed of a mountain torrent. His 
persecutors hesitated not to fol- 
low. In a race of several him- 



42 



dred yards, Lewis had gained 
some few yards upon his pur- 
suers, when, upon leaping a 
prostrate tree which lay across 
his course, his strength sudden- 
ly failed, and he fell prostrate 
among- the weeds which had 
grown up in great luxuriance 
around the body of the tree, 
Three of the Indians sprang 
over the tree within a few feet 
of where their prey la) conceal- 
cealed; but with a feeling of the 
most devout thankfulness to a 
kind and superintending Provi- 
dence, he saw them one by one 
disappear in the dark recesses 
of the forest. He now bethought 
himself of rising from his un- 
easy bed, when lo a new enemy 
appeared, in the shape of an 
enormous rattlesnake, who had 
thrown himself into the deadlj 
coil so near his face ttiat hi* 
fangs were within a few incho 
of his nose; and his enormous 
rattle, as it waved to and fro, 
once rested upon his ear. A 
single contraction of the eyelid — 
a convulsive shudder — the relax- 
ation of a single muscle, and the 
deadly beast would have sprung 
upon him. In this situation he 
lay for several minutes, when 
the reptile, probably supposing 
him to be dead, crawled over his 
body and moved slowly away. 
"I had eaten nothing,' said 
Lewis to his companions, after 
his return, "for many days; I had 
no fire-arms, and I ran the risk 



of dying- with hunger, ere I 
could reach the settlement; but 
rather would I have died, than 
made a meal of the generous 
beast'." 

. Kercheval's History of the 
Valley, describes the attire of 
Col. Charles Lewi - on that da; , 
at page 114, as follows: " ol 
Chas. Lewis, who had arrayed 
himself in a gorgeous scarlet^ 
waistcoat, against the advice of 
his friends, thus rendering 1 im- 
self a conspicu us mark for the 
Indians, was mo: tally woundtd 
early in action; ) et as able to 
walk back after receiving the 
vscund, into hi> own ttnt, where 
he expired. He was met on his 
way by the commander-in-chief, 
his brother, Col. Andrew Lewis, 
vvho remarked to him," I expect- 
ed something fatal vould befall 
you," to which the wounded 
officer calmly replied, "It is the 
fate uf war." The samt author 
says at pag*. 115, "Col L< wis, a 
distinguished and meritorious 
officer, was mortally wounded 
by the fi st fire of the Indians, 
but walk.d into the camp and 
expired in his own tent." 

Peyton's Hi-toryof Augusta 
County says "He abandoned 
himself too much to his pas-ion 
for glory and forgot the Aide 
difference betw^ en an officer and 
a private, fie was not iufj rior 
to his brother, the General, in 
courage, intrepidity and mili 
genius; he surpassed him in 



43 



some respects, he knew how to) 
oblige_j^t^^L_be_Uer grace, how 
to win the hearts of those about 
him, with a more engaging be- 
havior. He consequently ac- 
quired the esteem and affection 
of his men, in a most remarka- 
ble manner. To perpetuate the 
memory of his public and private 
virtues*, his eminent services in 
the field and his heroic fate, the 
General Assembly of Virginh, 
in 1816, named Lewis County in 
his honor. " 

Col. Charles 1 ew's 

By his kinsmen be was consid- 
ered the ''flower_of_tbe flock." 
Like bis brother, he was a man 
of splendid phxsiqueand without 
disparaging his kindred, he was 
best Jpved because of his high 
degree of morality, spotless in- 
tegrity and acknowledged brave- 
ry. His long and active military 
career had made him a hero in 
the eyes of his comrades from 
the Braddock campaign to the 
hour of his death, and while had 
he lived, he doubtless would have 
added new lustre to his name in 
the continued struggle of the 
Revolution; after all, he had but 
one life to offer up to his country 
and at this crucial moment no 
doubt it was needed most. His 
conduct inspired the army. 
The sacrifice of his life armed 
anew his companies and stimu- 
lated them 'o grea + er feats of 
daring. Thwaite's Dunmore 
War sa^ s "Charles Lewis was 



popular and beloved by all the 
western army. His loss was 
a general affliction." Dr. Hale's 
"Trans-Allegheny says: "Col- 
onel Charles Lewis was said to 
be the idol of the army. He had 
a large, active and honorable 
military experience from Brad- 
dock's War down to death. And 
it is believed that he would have 
achieved greater honors and dis- 
tinction in the Revolutionary 
struggle, if his life had been 
spared, but his brilliant career 
was ended in glory on this field." 

The charge he made at Point 
Pleasant #as in the face of a 
fearless band of adversaries. 
When Gen. Andrew Lewis select- 
ed his brother to take command 
of the left wing of the army in 
^he first attempt to repulse Corn- 
stalk and his fearful braves, he 
selected his brother to bear that 
peril, not that he loved him less, 
but that he knew the army need- 
ed his courageous example. Col. 
William Preston, in writing of 
bis death to Patrick Henry, 
said: "Poor Charles Lewis was 
shot in clear ground, encourag- 
ing his men to advance. If the 
loss of a good man, a sincere 
f 1 iend, a brave officer deserves a 
tear he certainly is entitled to it." 

At the clo^e of the conflict, his 
mortal remains were laid to rest 
upon the reservation of forty 
feet square upon the present 
sight of Tu Endie Wei Park, 
where the Kanawha and Ohio 



44 



meet. Here, he is buried beside 
tbe other dead of that battle. 

No stone as yet has ever mark- 
ed his resting place, save the four 
g-ranite corner stones erected in 
1905 by the Col. Charles Lewis 
Chapter Daughters of theAmeri 
can Revolution at Point Pleasant. 
While no monument has as yet 
been reared to mark the last rest- 
ing place of this great man, a 
tribute due him from his own 
loved ones, as well as from a 
grateful nation; it is equally a 
matter of congratulation that 
though tardy the goverment has 
donated a small amount $10,000 
which with the $6,000 in the 
bands of the State Commission 
has been pledged in the contract 
let for a monument. But greater 
than this monument is the recog- 
nition of the Goverment of the 
status of the battle as regards 
the Revolution, standing, as it 
does, on the heels of Indian 
depredations on the western 
frontier and on the threshold of 
the American Revolution for Am- 
erican Independence. This hon- 
or so longdelayed, will at last have 
written this page of American 
history correctly when a stately 
monument shall bear the inscrip- 
tion: 

Battle of Point Pleasant 
October 10, 1774. 
First Battle of the American 
Revolution. 

Col. John Field 

Col. John Field born in Cul- 



pepper County in 1720 of good 
family 'is buried beside Col. 
Charles Lewis, his friend and 
comrade. He received his fatal 
wound at tbe Battle of Point 
Pleasant, while bravely checking 
the Indians. He rallied his 
troops who had begun to waver, 
and, for a time, seemed likely to 
be repulsed. Col. Field had 
been with Braddock and had 
seen frontier service from that 
date, both as a militia officer and 
as a surveyor. In 1765 he served 
in the Virginia Legislature, in 
1766 he was made Colonel of 
Malitia. His troops at Point 
Pleasant were a volunteer compa- 
ny, raised by him in his own 
county which he united with that 
of Gen. Lewi«. 

Col. William Flemming 
Col. William Flemming was 
renowed not only as a military 
genius, but as a learned physi- 
cian and gentleman of culture. 
While twice severely wounded at 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, he 
recovered and was subsequently 
acting Governor of the State of 
Virginia. He was a Scotchman 
of proud lineage. Born Feb. 18, 
1729. Prior to Dunmores war 
he was Lieut, under Gen. Forbes 
in 1760-61. In 1762 he wasCapt. 
under Colj, Adam Stephens at 
Vaux's and Stonakers forts. In 
1763 he married Anne Christian. 
His home was at "Belmont" in 
Montgomery Co. The wounds 
he received at Point Pleasant 



45 



disabled him for active perticipa- 
tion at the war of the Revolution, 
but he was County Lieutenant, 
in further defense, in his country 
against Indians and State Sen- 
ator 1780-81, acting Governor dur- 
ing the Cornwallis invasion 1781 
Twice commissioner to settle 
local battles with Kentucky; 
member Virginia convention rat- 
ifying the constitution of 1788. 
He was benevolent and beloved 
and as a physician and surgeon 
his ministration to humanity was 
most extensive. His death Aug. 
24th, 1795 was the result of 
wounds received at the Battle of 
Point Pleasant. 

Capt. Evan Shelby 

Capt. Shelby, who with his 
two sons, was in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, was a ranking 
officer after the death of Colonels 
Lewis and Field and the wound- 
ing of Fleming, until the arrival 
of Colonel Christian's regiment. 
It was Evan Shelby who, with 
his and the companies of Math- 
ews and Stewart in the ruse, ex- 
ecuted the flank movement up 
Crooked Creek, that led Cornstalk 
to believe that Lewis had been re- 
enforced, possiblv by Dunmore 
who had played him false and 
thus decided the fortunes of the 
day. Captain Shelby became 
Colonel Shelby of the Revolution, 
whose distinguished career is 
followed in the history of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. 

He was born in Wales in 1720, 



He early emigrated to Maryland. 
He commanded a company under 
Forbes in 1758. In 1771 he set- 
tled on the Holston. In 1776 he 
was with Christian in the Cher- 
okee expedition. In 1779 he led 
a successful expedition upon the 
Chickamauga towns, having been 
appointed by Virginia a general 
of Malitia. He continued in the 
service throughout the Revolu- 
tion engaged principally upon the 
seaboard. He rose to the rank 
of Colonel and before the close of 
the war to that of General. He 
died at King's Mountain, Dec, 
4th, 1794. 

Isaac Shelby 

Isaac Shelby who served as a 
Lieutenant under his father 
Capt. Evan Shelby at the battle 
of Point Pleasant, was born at 
North Mountain, Md., Dec, 11th, 
1750, where his grand-father set- 
tled upon his arrival from Wales. 
He had removed with his father 
to the present site of Bristol, 
Tenn., prior to the Dunmore 
War and was engaged in feeding 
and herding cattle. He served 
throughout the Revolutiou dis- 
tinguishing himself at Camden, 
King's Mountain and Long 
Island Flats. Governor Patrick 
Henry promoted him to a Cap- 
taincy and commissioned him 
Commissary general of the Vir- 
ginia forces. When Sevier in 
1779 projected the expedition 
that captured the British stores, 
at Chicamauga, Shelby epuipped 
and supplied the troops by the 



46 



pledge of his individual credit. 
Governor Tbos. Jefferson com- 
missioned him a Major of Vir- 
ginia, but a survey proved him 
to be a resident of North Caroli- 
na, when he was appointed a 
Colonel by Gov. Caswell. He 
distinguished himself at Thick- 
etty Fork, Cedar Springs and 
Musgraves Mills. Retreating 
across the Alleghenies after the 
disasterous defeat at Camden, 
he with John Sevier planned the 
remarkable campaign which re- 
sulted in the battle of King's 
Mountain, the high water mark 
of the Revolution that turned the 
tide in favor of the patriot army. 
He did valliant service at the 
battle of the Cowpens as well as 
at Charleston. He was largely 
unstrumental in preserving Ken- 
tucky to the Colonists as against 
an alliance with Spain. He was 
six times chosen a Presidential 
elector for Kentucky. In 1812 
he became the first Governor of 
Kentucky, which he accepted 
with great reluctance and accept- 
ed only that he might again aid 
his country as against Great 
Britain. He organized 4000 vol- 
unteers and at the age of 63 
years led them in person to the 
re-enforcement of Gen'l Wm. 
Henry Harrison enabling him to 
profit by the victory of Perry at 
Lake Erie. Congress voted him 
a gold Medal, and the Kentucky 
Legislature a vote of thanks. 
In 1785 he married Miss Susan- 



nah, daughter of Captain Na- 
thanial Hart. He established 
himself un the first settlement 
and pre-emption granted in Ken- 
tucky which he made his home, 
residing thereon 43 years. He 
died Julv 18th, 1826, aged 76 
years. He was a strict Presby- 
terian. 

John Jones. 

John Jones was born in Cul- 
pepper County, Virginia, in 1755, 
and enlisted in the army of 
Andrew Lewis and was in the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, follow 
ing which, upon his return to 
Culpepper, he enlisted in the 
patriot army and served 
throughout the Revolution. In 
1792. he obtained patents for 
land for 359 acres on the 
Kanawha River and that same 
year for 400 acres more. In 1797 
he obtained patents for 400 acres 
in Teays Valley and land on 
Paint Creek, besides making 
purchases from the state. He 
owned from Paint Creek to the 
Narrows on Kanawha, including 
the present sites of Pratt and 
Dego. In the Clifton Cemetery 
above Paint Creek, his remains 
were interred, a slab bearing in- 
scription,' 

"In Memory of John Jones who 
departed This life January 7, 

1838, Aged 83 Years." 
John Jones married Frances 
Morris, a sister of Wm. and 
Leonard Morris. He was hos- 
pitable and a good citizen. The 



47 



Baptist Church founded at Kel- 
ley's Creek in 1796 was largely 
due to his interest and generosi- 
ty. 

His will, recorded March, 
1838, mentions his wife, Frances, 
and children, Gabriel, who re- 
turned to Culpepper County, Va.; 
William; Nancy who married 

_ ^Huddleston; Thomas; 

Levi; and Frances, who married 
Sbelton and were the progeni- 
tors of the prominent Nicholas 
County, W. ,Va., family of that 
name. 

John Draper. 

Lieut, John Draper, of the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, was 
born in 1730, and was one of the 
pioneer settlers of Drapers 
Meadows, where, in 1755, occur- 
red that dreadful massacre, in 
which his wife and sister were 
captured by the Indians. In 1765, 
he removed to Drapers Valley 
on the line between Pulaski and 
Wythe Counties, Va. He was 
commissioned a Lieutenant in 
one of the Fincastle Companies 
in 1774. He died in 1828 at the 
age of nearly ninety-four years. 

Prominent members of the 
family are still resident of Dra- 
pers Valley. In 1886, John S. 
Draper, a great grandson of 
Lieut. John Draper, was the 
owner of the beautiful estate. 
John Draper was twice married; 

his first wife was Bettie . 

After her return from captivity, 
she bore four sons and three 



daughters, she died in 1774. 
aged 42 years, and in 1776, he 
married Mrs. Jane Crockett, 
who bore him two daughters, 
Alice and Rhoda. By the hrst 
marriage, the sons were George, 
James, John and Silas. Tne 
names of the other two daugh- 
ters are to us unknown. 

Benjamin Logan. 

Benjamin Logan, born in 
Augusta County, Va., 1743, was, 
in 1764, a sergeant in Boquets's 
Army. In 1771, he moved to the 
Holston Valley.. He was a 
Lieutenant in the Point Pleasant 
Campaign. In 1775, he moved to 
Kentucky and built Logan's 
Station or fort which was besieg- 
ed by Indians. Logan went to 
Holston settlement for ammuni- 
tion, returning on foot in ten 
days. In 1779, he was second in 
command of the Bowman expedi- 
tion. He was a noted Indian 
fighter and allied himself with 
Kentucky, as against the 
Spaniards at New Orleans. He 
removed to Shelby County, Ken- 
tucky, where he died in 1802. 
William Campbell. 

William Campbell was born in 
Augusta County, Virginia, in 
1745, died at Rocky Mills, Han 
over Co., Va., August 22, 1781. 
In 1767 he moved to the Holston 
Valley. In 1774 he was appoint- 
ed Captain of militia and was in 
Col. Christian's regiment at 
Point Pleasant. In September, 
1775, he commanded a company 



48 



at Williamsburg-, in Patrick 
Henry's regiment and under 
General Lewis assisted in dis- 
lodging- Governor Dunmore from 
Gwynn's Island in July, 1776. 
In 1777 he was made Lieutenant 
of Militia in the new county of 
Washington. In 1779, he aided 
in driving the Tories from the 
Holston Valley. In 1780, he was 
promoted to a colonelcy of the re 
giment and chosen to represent 
his county in the legislature. 
At King's Mountain he distin- 
guished himself and was com- 
mended by Washington, Gates 
and Greene. He was with Gen. 
Greene at Guilford Court House 
in March, 1781. He was made 
a Brigadier General of Militia 
and served under Lafayette in 
the Battle of Jamestown, soon 
after which he died. Lafayttee 
said of him "His services at 
King's Mountain and Guilford 
would do his memory everlasting 
honor and ensure bim a high 
rank among the defenders of 
liberty in the American Cause", 
while Jefferson declared "Gen. 
Campbell's friends might quietly 
rest their heads on the pillow of 
his renown." His wife was a 
sister of Patrick Henry. 

Arthur Campbell. 

Arthur Campbell, a cousin of 
Gen. Win. Campbell, was born 
in Augusta County, Va., in 1743. 
At fifteen he was captured by 
the Indians and carried to Lake 
Erie. Escaping, he was employ- 



ed as a guide, receiving therefor 
one thousand acres of land which 
he located near the present site 
of Louisville, Ky. In 1772, he 
was a Justice of Fincastle County, 
Va., and later a Major of Militia. 
After the Battle of Point Pleas- 
ant, 1775, he represented his 
county in the Virginia Assem- 
bly. In 1776, he was chosen 
County Lieutenant for Washing- 
ton County, which office he held 
for thirty years. He joined 
Sevier in the movement to estab- 
lish the state of Franklin for 
which Patrick Henry removed 
him from office and the legisla- 
ture re-instated him In his 
latter life he joined his sons at 
Middlesburg, Ky., where he 
died in 1811. 

John Campbell. 
Captain John Campbell, a 
younger brother of Arthur, a 
lieutenant at Point Pleasant, 
was a captain at the Battle of 
Long Island Flats (1776) and 
served as County Clerk of Wash- 
ington County from 1779 to 1815. 

Joseph Mayse. 

Joseph Mayse, who partici 
pated in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, was from Bath County, 
Virginia. In April, 1840, he 
died, being in his 89th year. He 
had served as a magistrate in his 
district for nearly fifty years. 
He was a man of such remarka- 
ble memory he was considered 
an "official record." He was 
twice high sheriff of Bath Coun- 



49 



ty. His health was always per- 
fect and 'he boasted he had never 
taken a dose of medicine. 

Gen. Andrew Moore. 

Andrew Moore, a lawyer by 
profession, was born in Connis- 
cello, Augusta, now Rockbridge, 
County, Va. In 1774, he was 
admitted to the Bar. In October 
of that year he was with Andrew 
Lewis's Army at Point Pleasant. 
In 1776, as a Lieutenant in the 
patriot army, he participated at 
Saratoga, where he was promoted 
to a captaincy and served there- 
after three years. The Virginia 
Legislature made him brigadier 
general of militia and in 1808 
major general. 

Gen. Moore had the distinction 
of being the only man west of 
the Blue Ridge, prior to the civil 
war, who ever represented Vir- 
ginia in the Senate of the United 
States; which was during the ad- 
ministration of President Jeffer- 
son. He was a member of the 
Virginia Assembly from 1781 to 
1789 and again from 1798 to 1800. 
In 1788, he was a delegate to the 
convention which ratified the 
United States Constitution. He 
was a member of Congress from 
Virginia during the entire ad- 
ministration of President Wash- 
ington. In 1800, he was elected 
to the United States Senate, 
where he served three years. 
In 1810, President Jefferson ap- 
pointed him United States Mar- 
shall for the state of Virginia, 



which office he was filling at the 
time of his death. His son, 
Samuel Moore, represented Vir- 
ginia in the Legislature and in 
Congress, — a member of the 
Virginia Constitutional Conven- 
tion 1829. In 1861, Samuel 
Moore opposed the secession 
of Virginia, but, going with his 
state, he served in the Confede- 
rate Army. The family have 
always been distinguished. 

George MathewS, 

George Mathews was born in 
Augusta County, Virginia, in 
1739, and died August 30, 1812. 
At twenty-two years of age he 
led a volunteer company against 
the Indians. He was in com- 
mand of a company of Augusta 
troops at Point Pleasant, Oct. 
10, 1774, and participated with 
the patriot army throughout the 
Revolution. He was engaged at 
Brandywine. At Germantown 
he received nine bayonet wounds, 
was captured with his whole reg- 
iment and confined in a prison 
ship at New York until Decem- 
ber, 1781. He then joined Gen. 
Nathaniel Greene's army in com- 
mand of the Third Virginia Reg- 
iment. In 1785, he removed with 
his family to Georgia and settled 
in Oglethorpe County. In 1781- 
17^1 he represented Georgia in 
Congress; was Governor of 
Georgia, 1793-6. He was briga- 
dier general of Georgia. In 1811, 
he was authorized by the Presi- 
dent of the United States to take 



50 



possession of West Flordia and 
captured Amelia Island. His 
son, George, became a Supreme 
Judge of Louisiana. He admit- 
ted no superiors but Washington. 
He was short, stout, erect, fea- 
tures bluff, hair red, complexion- 
florid. He died when on a visit 
to Washington and is buried in 
St. Paul's churchyard. His 
four children, were Mrs. 
Andrew Barrv, of Staunton, Va., 
Mrs. Gen. Samuel Blackburn, 
and Mrs. Isaac Telfair, of Staun- 
ton, and one son, Judge George 
Mathews, above mentioned. He 
was three times married, (1) to 
Miss Amelia Paul, (2) to Mrs 
Margaret Reed, of Staunton, and 
(3) to Mrs. Flowers, of Missis- 
sippi. He was divorced from 
his second wife. 

Sampson Mathews. 
Sampson Mathews, Commis- 
sary of Col. Charles Lewis's 
Regiment, was called ''Master 
Drover of the Cattle." In 1756, 
Deputy Sheriff Sampson 
Mathews assumed the functions 
of Chancellor of Augusta County. 
In 1764, he was appointed a 
Justice of the Peace for Augusta. 
In 1776, with Alexander St. 
Clair, he was appointed by the 
state of Virginia as trustee "to 
erect at public expense and su- 
perintend a manufactory at such 
place as they may think proper 
for the manufacture of sail duck,' 
this preparatory for equipment 
of a Virginia fleet for Revolution- 



ary service. He became Col. 
Sampson Mathews of ttie Revo- 
lution. In 1781, he commanded 
the regiment that repelled Ar- 
nold's invasion of Virginia. He 
was one of a committee to draft 
instructions for the members of 
the Virginia Convention at Rich- 
mond, Feb. 22, 1775. 

Col. Joseph Crockett. 

Nothing can be truer than that 
God provides men for the hour. 
Among the one hundred men 
who participated in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, and wentjon to 
become settlers of Kentucky, 
that state so open to the prey of 
the Indians that its first three 
years saw more people slaughter- 
ed by Indians than that state had 
white population at the end of 
ttrat time, had among its other 
emigrants who were in the Battle 
of Point Pleasant, Col. Joseph 
Crockett, for a sketch of whose 
life we are indebted to his illus- 
trious grandson, Col. Bennett H. 
Young, of Louisville, Ky. It is 
as follows : 

"My great grandfather, Col. 
Joseph Crockett, was born in 
Albermarle, and was one of the 
men who marched with Andrew 
Lewis, with Charles Lewis, and 
with William Russell, and was 
engaged in the conflict at Point 
Pleasant. He was then a young 
man. 

"He returned shortly after 
the battle of Point Pleasant, and 
remained for several months as 



51 



First Lieutenant in a company of 
Colonial Militia that was station- 
ed at Point Pleasant. When the 
fires of the Revolutionary War 
were kindled, and it was neces- 
sary for every man to go to the 
front to resists British invasions, 
the Indians were to be left a lit- 
tle while to themselves. Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina were 
then sending their pioneers to 
make the settlements of Ken- 
tucky which were, under God's 
providence and direction, one of 
the chief agencies in the success 
of the colonies in their great 
struggle against the mother 
country. My ancestor organized 
a company and marched to the 
front. He was successively a 
Captain, Major and Lieutenant- 
Colonel. He was a Major in 
Morgan's riflemen, and recruit- 
ed two companies for that cele- 
brated organization. He was a 
Lieutenant at White Marsh, was 
a Captain when Burgoyne sur- 
rendered, was engaged in all the 
battles previous to that great 
event. He was at Princeton 
and Trenton, and Valley Forge 
and Red Bank, and in 1779, he 
raised a regiment known as the 
Crockett Regiment, which was 
sent west to assist George Rod- 
gers Clark in his war with the 
Indians, and was with that dis- 
tinguished soldier, second in 
command, in all the skirmishes 
and battles with the northwest- 
ern Indians on the Ohio and 



Miami Rivers, and helped to de- 
stroy Chillicothe, and the Indian 
towns on the Wabash, and 
throughout the northwest, and 
in these battles stayed the up- 
lifted hand of the cruel and 
avenging Indian, who would 
otherwise have wreaked his 
cruelties upon the frontier set- 
tlements of both Pennsylvania 
and Virginia and thus coming in 
the rear of these enemies, aveng- 
ed many of the wrongs heaped 
upon the Virginia, Pennsylvania 
and Kentucky settlements." 
James Robertson. 

James Robertson, (by some 
authors written Robinson) , with 
Val. Sevier, discovered the In- 
dians before the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. He was born i n 
Brunswick County, Va., 1742, 
died in Chickasaw County, 
Tenn., Sept. 1, 1814. He was 
the personal friend of Daniel 
Boone. He did more to consum- 
mate a peace between the In- 
dians and whites than any man 
in Tennessee, when he became 
the founder of Nashville, where 
he withstood, with a handful of 
men, a siege of one thousand In- 
dians. Flattering offers were 
made him by the Spanish gov- 
ernment to cut the territory of 
Tennessee loose from the gov- 
ernment, and, with W 7 atauga and 
Kentucky, establish an indepen- 
dent country which he indignant- 
ly declined. In 1790, he was ap- 
pointed a brigadier general by 



52 



Washington. He shared with 
Sevier the honors and affections 
of Tennessee. 

John Smith. 

Ensign John Smith, of the 
battle of Point Pleasant, left 
sons, Abraham, of Rockingham 
Co., Joseph and Silas H. of 
Augusta Co., and daughter Nan- 
cy, who married Wm. Crawford, 
His family have been distin- 
guished. 

Benjamin Harrison. 

Benjamin Harrison command- 
ed a company at Point Pleasant 
In July, 1775, he was appoi d 
Captain of a company of Minute 
Men. In 1778, he was appointed 
Lieutenant Colonel of Militia for 
Rockingham County. He was a 
native af Loudon County, Vir- 
ginia. He was the founder of 
Harrisonburg, Va. He died in 
1819. 

Hugh and James Alien. 

Hugh Allen was a Lieutenant 
in Col. Charles Lewis's Regi- 
ment at Point Pleasant, where 
he lost his life and was buried 
beside Col. Lewis. His three 
sons, John, William and Hugh, 
all settled in Kentucky. His 
brother, James Allen, who lived 
eight miles from Staunton, was 
Captain of Militia in 1756 and 
was in the battle of Point Pleas- 
ant, and witnessed the death of 
his brother. He died in 1810, ' 
aged ninety-four years and was 
an elder in the Augusta Stone 
Church for sixty-four years. 



Judge Samuel McDowell. 

Judge Samuel McDowell who, 
as Captain McDowell, command- 
ed a company of Augusta troops 
at the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
was a native of Rockbridge Coun- 
ty, Va. He married Mary Mc- 
Clung, and, with his seven sons 
and two daughters, in 1784, emi- 
grated to Danville, Ky. He was 
one of the first Kentucky Court 
and was a member of the conven- 
tion that framed for Kentucky 
the first Constitution. He pre- 
sided over nine political conven- 
tions which convened in Dan- 
ville from 1784 to 1790. 

In 1776, he was a member of 
the Virginia House of Burgesses, 
representing Rockbridge Coun- 
ty. As Col. McDowell, he com- 
manded a Rockbridge Company 
during the Revolution. On 
April 20, 1781, he wrote the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, when a draft 
had been ordered from his coun- 
ty for April 26th, that if the men 
were drawn the county would be 
ruined, as two thirds of the men 
had been engaged in the servi- 
ces all the time and there were 
no new ones to put in the 
crops, and that he had marched 
with 200 men to join Gen. 
Greene before the battle of 
Guilford Court House. 

John Sevier. 

John Sevier, born in Rocking- 
ham Co., Va., Sep. 22, 1745, died 
near Fort Decatur, Ga., Sept. 
24, 1815, was educated at Fred- 



53 



ericksburg, Va., married at 17 
years of age and became the 
the founder of New Market on 
the Shenandoah. In 1772, he 
was appointed Captain of the 
Virginia line and moved to Wat- 
auga. In the Dunmore War, he 
resumed his rank in the Virginia 
line and participated in the Bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant. When 
what is now Tennessee was or- 
ganized into Washington Dis- 
trict, North Carolina, John 
Sevier was chosen a delegate to 
the legislature. In 1777, he 
again represented Watauga and 
procured for his state, courts and 
rights of extension. He was ap- 
pointed clerk of the court and 
district judge and, with his 
friend, James Robertson, was in 
control of the judicial and admin- 
istrative functions of the settle- 
ment. He was elected colonel 
and enlisted without exception 
every able bodied man between 
the ages of 16 and 50. With Col. 
Isaac Shelby he planned the bat- 
tle of King's Mountain. He 
continued to command the forces 
against the Indians. When the 
new state, Franklin, afterwards 
Tennessee, was organized, he 
took the oath of Governor March 
1, 1785. When the new state be- 
came a part of the Union, he was 
the first representative to Con- 
gress from the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, 1789-1790, and in 1796, 
when Tennessee became a state, 
he was elected its first Governor 



which office he filled for three 
years. He three times repre- 
sented Tennessee as a state in 
Congress. He was in the ac- 
tice service of his country from 
the age of 17 years to 70. As 
long as he lived he was the real 
seat of power in Tennessee. A 
monument in Nashville attests 
to his memory and Sevier Coun- 
ty in Tennessee commemorates 
his fame. 

Valentine Sevier. 

Valentine Sevier, who was a 
seargent in Evan Shelby's com- 
pany and a younger brother of 
Gen. John Sevier, in 1779, was a 
Captain in the Chickamauga 
Campaign and led a company 
against the British in North Car- 
olina, 1780, which culminated in 
the Battle of King's Mountain. 
He rose to the rank of Militia 
Colonel and died at Clarksville, 
Tenn., in 1800. 

James Harrod. 

James Harrod who had been 
in Kentucky in the spring and 
summer of 1774, was with Col. 
Charles Lewis. He built the 
first cabin in Kentucky. He be- 
came Col. Harrod of the Revolu- 
tion, e was a member of the 
first Kentucky Legislature. He 
was an able assistant of Geo. 
Rodgers Clark in securing am- 
munition. He declined to accept 
the appointment of Major of the 
first Regimental Militia of Ken- 
tucky. Harrodsburg Kentucky, 
is named for him. A man named 



54 



Bridges with whom he had had 
litigation murdered him, — the 
date is thought to be July, 1793. 

William Russell. 

William Russell was but fif- 
teen years of age when par- 
ticipating in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant. During the 
Revolution he rose to the Rank 
of Colonel. He was a Lieutenant 
at the Battle of King's Mountain 
and Guilford Court House. Af- 
ter the Revolution he settled in 
Fayette County, Kentucky. He 
was appointed to command a 
regiment in the regular army. 
In 1792, he represented Fayette 
County in the Kentucky legisla- 
ture, which was repeated a dozen 
times until 1825, when he con- 
tracted a cold at a public meet- 
ing where he was called to pre- 
side, which resulted in his death. 

James Montgomery. 

Captain James Montgomery, 
who was in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, settled in Kentucky, 
as did James Knox, who was in 
Isaac Hite's Company. Others 
of Isaac Hite's Company who 
settled in Kentucky were James 
McCullosh, John Shelp, William 
Field, Thomas Glenn, David Wil- 
liams, James Brown, John Cowan, 
John Wilson, Abraham Chapline 
and John Clark. 

John Crawford. 

John Crawford represented 
Montgomery County, Kentucky, 
in the Legislature in 1812. 



William Christian. 

While Col. Wm. Christian was 
not an actual participant in the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, he, 
witti his three hundred' volun- 
teers troops, not arriving until 
11 p. m., the night of the battle, 
yet they did noble services to the 
bleeding army and the valiant 
dead. He was a native of Augus- 
ta County and educated at Staun- 
ton. He participated in the 
Braddock campaign. He mar- 
ried a sister of Patrick Henry 
and settled in Bottetourt County. 
In 1775, he settled in Kentucky 
and Christian County is named 
in his honor. In April, 1776, he 
was killed by a party of Indians 
who had stolen his horses and in 
whom, with a party of friends, 
he was in pursuit. 

George Slaughter. 

Col. George Slaughter, a son- 
in-law of Col. Field, after the 
Battle, settled in Kentucky and 
was one of eight delegates to 
Congress out of the city of 
Louisville. 

James Trimble. 

James Trimble, a participant 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
aged then but eighteen years, 
had in 1770, been a prisoner of 
the Indians. In 1780 or 81, he 
emigrated to Woodford, Ky., be- 
ing one of the earliest settlers. 
In 1804, he died in Kentucky, 
having made preparations to 
move to Hillsborough, Ohio, 
where his family removed after 



55 



his death. The Trimbles be- 
came eminent. Allen Trimble 
became Governor of Ohio. Wm. 
A. Trimble was a Major in the 
War of 1812, and in 1819 a Lieu- 
tenant Colonel in the Regular 
Army and a United States Sena- 
tor from Ohio. 

John Dickenson. 

Captain John Dickenson, who 
commanded one of Col. 1 Charles 
Lewis Companies of Augusta 
County troops and who was 
wounded during the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, was left with 
Col. Fleming at the fort when 
Andrew Lewis, with his troops, 
advanced into Ohio. In 1785, he 
surveyed 502 acres of land at the 
mouth of Campbell's Creek on 
the Kanawha River. In 1777, he 
commanded, as a Colonel with 
Major Samuel McDowell, the 
Bottetourt troops, as well as 
troops, from Augusta County, 
and marched to the defense of 
the fort at Point Pleasant, ac- 
companied by Capt. Hall's com- 
pany of Rockbridge volunteers, 
numbering in all about 700 men, 
and he witnessed the murder of 
Cornstalk, which with the officers 
in command he tried to prevent. 
In 1791, when Bath County was 
organized, he was appointed one 
of the first gentlemen justices of 
that county which honor he de- 
clined. He died in 1799, owning 
large tracts of land in Bath, 
Greenbrier and Kanawha Coun- 
ties, besides large holdings in 



Kentucky. He left sons, Adam 
and John and daughters Nancy, 
married Joseph Kinkcaid, Mary, 
married Samuel Shrewsbury and 
Jane, who was the wife of Char- 
les Lewis son of Col. Charles 
Lewis, some of the descendants 
of the latter still being residents 
of this county. 

Anthony Bledsoe. 

Anthony Bledsoe, born in Cul- 
pepper County, in 1733, in 1774, 
moved to the neighborhood of the 
Shelby's. He was a magistrate 
of Botetourt, Fincastle and 
Washington Counties, and a 
member of the Virginia Assem- 
bly from Washington County, 
1777-78. He moved to Bledsoe's 
Lick, North Carolina, and repre- 
sented his district in the assem- 
bly of his state from 1785, to 
1788, when he was killed by In- 
dians. He was in charge of the 
commissary under Col. Christain 
at Point Pleasant with the rank 
of major. He commanded the 
forces at Long Island until July, 
1777, and in 1779, went out 
against the Chickamaugas and 
did not participate in the Battle 
of King's Mountain because he 
felt it was his duty to remain at 
home and protect the frontier. 
William Cocke. 

Captain William Cocke, of the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, served 
in the legislature of four states 
and in the federal senate, as well 
as was prominent in his military 
career. He was born in 1748, in 



56 



Amelia County, Virginia He 
studied law and removed to the 
HolstoD Valley. He was a 
brilliant orator and popular. 
After the Dunmore War he settl- 
ed for a while in Boonesborough, 
Ky., but returned to the Watauga 
and participated in the Chero- 
kee Campaign. In 1777, he was a 
member of the Virginia Assem- 
bly. In 1780 he led a company 
at King's Mountain. He was 
made a Brigadier General of 
Tennessee and, in 1796, one of 
the federal senators and was re- 
elected in 1799. 

In 1809 he was elected a circuit 
judge of Tennessee. In 1812 he 
removed to Columbus, Miss., and 
enlisted as a private in the war 
of that year and soon rose to dis- 
tinction. He died in 1828 at 
Columbus, Miss. 

John Sawyer. 

Col. John Sawyer, born in Vir- 
ginia 1745, died in Knox County, 
Tenn., in 1831, and was with the 
Shelby's at Point Pleasant. In 
1776, he served in the Cherokee 
Campaign and in 1779 in the 
Chickamauga expedition and 
commanded under Gen. Shelby a 
company at King's Mountain. 
He was a Major, next a Colonel 
and was a representative to the 
state assembly, of Tennessee. 
Joseph Hug hey. 

Joseph Hughey, of Shelby's 
Company, was killed when at- 
tempting to bring the news of 
the Indians' presence to camp 



before the battle. James Moon- 
ey, who accompanied him, suc- 
ceeded in reaching the camp, 
but was killed during the battle. 

Philip Love. * 
Capt. Philip Love later served 
as a Colonel in Christian's 
Cherokee Campaign in 1776. 

Ellis Hughes. 

Ellis Hughes, who is thought 
to have been the last survivor of 
the patriots of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, went, after Wayne's 
treaty, to Ohio and died March, 
1845, at Utica, N. Y., where he 
was highly respected. He was 
buried with military honors. 

Reared in his native state Vir- 
ginia, nurtured amid the scenes 
of forest savagery, wherein by 
[ndian depredations he lost his 
father and sweetheart, it is not 
surprising that he pursued the 
dusky foe until he had disappear- 
ed from Virginia and from his 
adopted home, Ohio. 

John Steele. 

John Steele, who was wounded 
during the engagement at Point 
Pleasant, was born in Augusta 
County, Virginia, about 1755. 
He was an officer in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant and served 
throughout the Revolution. He 
was again wounded at the Battle 
of Germantown. He was for 
many years a member of the Ex- 
ecutive Council of Virginia and 
in the administration of Presi- 
dent John Adams, was a commis- 
sioner to treat with the Cherokee 



57 



Indians. Prom 1798 to 1801 he 
was Secretary of the Mississippi 
Territory. 

Azariah Davis. 

Azariah Davis, of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, was a member of 
Harrod's Company. He was 
one of themembers of the First 
Kentucky Legislature and is 
mentioned (1775) among the 
first settlers of Harrodsburg, 
Kentucky. 

John Todd. 

John Todd became one of the 
founders of Louisville, Ky. He 
was with Col. George Slaughter. 

Chas. E. Caireron. 

Chas. E. Cameron and his 
brothers, Hugh and George Cam- 
eron, were with the Virginia 
troops at Point Pleasant in which 
engagement George Cameron 
was killed. They were brothers- 
in-law of Col. Charles Lewis, 
who was killed in that battle, 
whose wife Sarah Murry, was 
their half sister. George Cam- 
eron resembled in person and 
being his distinguished father, 
Dr. John Cameron, of Staunton, 
who had emigrated from Scot- 
land. Charles Cameron served 
throughout the Revolution, as a 
Lieutenant and was with the 
Virginia troops at the surrender 
of Yorktown In 1790 he was 
one of the gentlemen justices of 
Augusta County. On December 
14, 1790, he received a land grant 



in Bath County, Va., where he 
located, about four miles from 
Warm Springs. He accumulat- 
ed large land interests. His 
residence of stone was magnifi- 
cent for its time and overlooked 
the Jackson River. Major Cam- 
eron became the first Clerk of 
Bath County, serving both courts 
for a number of years. After 
the Revolution, he became Colo- 
nel of Militia. As a personal 
friend of Gen. Lafayette, he was 
presented by him with a beauti- 
ful cane which he used and prized 
until his death, which occurred 
June 14, 1829. He was survived 
by his widow, Mrs. Rachel Prim- 
rose Warwick and one son, An- 
drew Warwick Cameron. 

Silas Harlan 

Silas Harlan, of Berkeley 
County, Virginia, was in Captain 
Harrod's Company and, after the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, emi- 
grated to Kentucky. In 1779, 
he commanded a company of 
spies under Gen. Geo. Rodgers 
Clark in the Illinois campaign. 
Gen. Clark pronounced him one 
of the bravest and most accom- 
plished soldiers who ever fought 
by his side. He was a Major at 
the Battle of Blue Licks, where 
he fell. He was but thirty years 
of age and unmarried. 

Jacob Warwick 

Jacob Warwick, of Bath Coun- 
ty, Virginia, on the morning of 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, had 
gone out early to kill beeves and 



58 



prepare rations for the army. 
He and the men who accompa- 
nied him hearing the first shots 
of battle, thought Dunmore had 
arrived and that the guns were a 
salute. Later they thought it a 
practice exercise, but, determin- 
ing to see for themselves, they 
joined the army in time to help 
materially in turning the tide of 
victory. 

Jacob v Warwick is buried be- 
side his wife at Clover Lick Cem- 
etery in Barth County, Va., 
where he died Jan., 1826, in his 
83rd year. He died at the home 
of his daughter, Mrs. Major 
Charles Cameron, on Jackson 
River. 

The Van Bibbers, 
The brothers, John, Isaac and 
Peter Van Bibber, and Jesse, 
son of Peter, were participants 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant. 
Mrs. Miriam Donley, a Van Bib 
ber descendant, writing for the 
July, 1903, West Virginia His- 
torical Magazine, says "Isaac had 
come from the Carolinas on a 
visit to his brother in Bottetourt 
County, when the call to arms 
resounded through the land. 
Although a Baptist minister, he 
could and would not resist, as 
hearts were that day attuned to 
martial music, and he responded 
to its call. He fell mortally 
wounded besides Colonel Charles 
Lewis. Peter fought with such 
bravery he was promoted and 
complimented on the battle field. 



John Van Bibber was written of 
by all historians as Captain and 
family notes say he was made 
Captain after the Battle of Point 
Pleasant and Commissary of 
Fort Randolph. The Van Bib- 
bers continued to defend the bor- 
der although Isaac, the son of 
Isaac, fell at Point Pleasant, 
while Jacob and Mathias Van 
Bibber died twenty years later. 
As late as 1843, Captain Jesse 
Van Bibber was still residing on 
Thirteen Mile Creek in Mason 
County, now West Virginia. 
He with his brother, John Van 
Bibber were among the earliest 
settlers of that County." 

Howe, the Historian, who in 
writing the History of Virginia 
in 1836, said "There is living 
upon Thirteen Mile Creek, Mr. 
Jesse Van Bibber, and aged 
pioneer in this county. His life, 
like his own mountain stream 
therein, was rough and turbulent 
at its commencement; but as it 
nears its close, calm and peace- 
ful, beautifully reflecting the 
Christian virtues." 

Leonard Cooper. 

Captain Leonard Cooper, an 
other Revolutionary soldier who 
is buried in Mason County, West 
Virginia,, participated in the 
Battle of Point Pleasant. Prior 
to the Revolution, he held a com 
mission in the Colonial army of 
Maryland. Learning of Dun- 
more's War, he hastened to 
Staunton, Virginia, and entered 



59 



the Army of General Lewis. He 
remained in the service until the 
close of the Revolutionary strug- 
gle. In 1789 Major Cooper re- 
moved with his family from 
Maryland to Fort Randolph, 
later erecting a Block House, 
known as Cooper's Block House, 
(where Mr. George W. Pullin 
now resides) in Cooper District, 
nine miles from the mouth of the 
Kanawha, on the upper side. He 
there removed with his family. 

In 1804, when the new County 
of Mason was organized, Major 
Cooper was appointed a justice 
of the peace in which capacity 
he served until his death which 
occurred in 1808. His remains 
were buried near his home. His 
son, Leonard, born in 1791, was 
the first white child born at 
Point Pleasant. Another of 
Leonard Cooper's children, Mary 
became the wifeof William Trot- 
ter, son of Richard Trotter, kill- 
ed in the Battle of Point Pleas- 
ant and Anne (Trotter) Bailey, 
who, going from Cooper's Block 
House, by canoe to Gallipolis, 
where in 1800, their marriage 
ceremony was performed. This 
is said to have been the first 
Virginia marriage performed in 
the French Settlement. 

William Arbuckle. 

Captain William Arbuckle, of 
Rockingham County, Virginia, 
deserves to rank with Daniel 
Boone and Simon Kenton in the 
valor displayed in wresting from 



savagery the vast domain in 
which his expedition laid He 
was not only with General An- 
drew Lewis at the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, where as a pilot (having 
first visited the mouth of the 
Kanawha in 1764) he safely con- 
ducted that wing of the army, 
but when Geo. Rodgers Clark 
was organizing his expedition 
against the French Forts in 
Illinois from which the Indians 
were known to receive supplies, 
he (Capt. Arbuckle) tendered 
his services which were accepted 
and he acquitted himself with 
credit in that ever memorable 
campaign. He defended the fort 
at Point Pleasant. He married 
Catherine Madison, widow of 
Capt. Robert McClannahan, who 
fell in the Battle of Point Pleas- 
ant. He remained in command 
of Fort Randolph until 1795 when 
Wayne made his treaty with the 
Indians, when he bought land and 
located on the Kanawha four 
miles below the present town of 
Buffalo, where he and his wife 
passed a peaceful and honored 
old age. Among their descend- 
ants yet on the Kanawha are the 
families of Arbuckle, Craig, 
Alexander, Miller and others. 
William Arbuckle had two child- 
ren born within the fort at Point 
Pleasant. He and his wife both 
are buried in the church yard at 
the Arbuckle Church in Mason 
County West Virginia, Simple 
stones are thus engraved: 



60 



"Wm Arbuckle, born March, 
1752, Died March 21, 1836, 
Aged 84 years.'' 
"Kitty Arbuckle, Died July 18, 
1818, Aged 64 years." 

John Young. 

John Young became a settler 
in the present Kanawha Count}', 
and, in the military organization 
of the County, was a lieutenant 
of militia. He left a son, Jos. 
Young, from whom descend 
many residents of the valley. 

John Henderson. 

John Henderson, about 1740, 
with his brothers James and 
Samuel, came to Augusta County, 
Virginia, from Scotland. 

Descending from James, John 
his second son, was born 1740, 
and died March 24, 1787. In 1765 
he married Ann Givens, sister to 
the wife of Gen. Andrew Lewis, 
and buying 300 acres of land, he 
settled in Greenbrier. In 1786, 
he was granted by Governor 
Randolph 350 acres, now in 
Greenbrier County, and 1400 
acres on the South Side of the 
Kanawha in what is now Clen- 
dennin and Arbuckle Districts, 
Mason County, West Vriginia. 

In Greenbrier County, he be- 
came a Lieutenant of Militia and 
ranked as such in Captain Her- 
bert's Company at Point Pleas- 
ant. Later he was Captain of 
the Greenbrier Militia and later 
was a Corporal in Capt. Gregory's 
Company in Daniel Morgan's 



Virginia Regiment, serving un- 
til April, 1779. In 1780, he was 
elected a Justice of the Peace, of 
Greenbrier County, which office 
he held in 1787, the time of his 
death. He was survived by his 
widow who died May 28, 1819, 
and children, Samuel, John, 
Margaret, James, Jean and 
William. John and Samuel in- 
herited the lands on Kanawha, 
where they made permanent 
homes. Samuel building his 
cabin home at the mouth of Ka- 
nawha and in 1810 burned the 
brick and erected a commodious 
brick house, the second one in 
the county, now occupied by his 
grandaughter, Mrs. Ella M. 
Henderson Hutchinson and 
family. 

John Henderson second, 
son of Capt. John Henderson, 
was a man prominent in the 
public affairs of Mason County, 
and he occupied and inherited 
that part of the tract of land ad- 
joining his brother Samuel but 
running further up the Kanawha. 

Luman Gibbs* 

Luman Gibbs was but 16 years 
of age when, with the army of 
General Andrew Lewis, he par- 
ticipated at the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. He was left as a part 
of the Garrison at the Fort. He 
became a noted scout and for 
twenty years he served in that 
capacity, wandering over the 
hills of the present County of 
Mason. His weekly route pro- 



61 



ceeded from Fort Randolph up 
the Kanawha to the Mouth of 
Eighteen Mile Creek, thence 
across to Letart Falls, thence 
down the Ohio to Point Pleasant, 
and his "All's Well" for twenty 
years dispelled the fears of the 
early settlers in and about the 
tort. The early settlers knew 
the route as "Gibb's Track." 
He married and located perma- 
nently in Mason County, where 
he has many descendants. 

He had emigrated to Augusta 
County Virginia in 055 
coming from New Hampshire 
where he was born. He engaged 
at once in the Colonial Army, in 
that year with Andrew Lewis in 
the Braddock campaign and 
again 1 enlisted in his command 
for the Point Pleasant Campaign. 
He was as noted for his sunny 
disposition as for his bravery. 
He lived to a great old age and 
died 1837 and is buried in the 
Gibbs family burying ground 
eight miles from Point Pleasant. 

In the same grave yard are buri- 
ed Revolutionary soldiers James 
Ball and Isaac Robinson who too 
participated in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant and became resi- 
dents of Mason County. 

George Eastham. 

George Eastham, of Far- 
quier County, Va., who was in 
one of the companies with Col. 
Field at the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, was born in 1758, and 
hence was but a youth when en- 



gaged in that battle. He partici- 
pated in many struggles through- 
out the Revolution. He married 
(1) Susan Woodside, who bore 
him nine children, among whom 
was Col. Lawson Eastham; his 
second wife, Mrs. Mary Brown, 
widow of James Brown, bore 
him three children, viz., Lucinda, 
Albert G. and Saunders. In 
1817, he moved to Arbuckle dis- 
trict, Mason County, Virginia, 
known as Five Mile Creek, and 
in the following year died. His 
son, Albert G. Eastham, born in 
1805, father of a large family in 
Mason County, died Feb. 23, 
1890, at his home in Arbuckle 
District being the last real son of 
"The Revolution" in the county 
of Mason. He left many descen- 
dants in that County who do 
honor to his name. 

John Stuart. 

Col. John Stuart was the son 
of Col. David Stuart, County 
Lieutenant of Augusta County, 
when that county extended from 
the Blue Ridge to the Mississippi, 
1755. 

John Stuart, son of Daniel and 
Margaret Stuart, was born in 
1749, in Augusta County and 
emigrated to Greenbrier in 1769 
and built a house of hewn logs 
two and a half stories high, 
which he used as a residence and 
fort, known as Fort Union. 

When his cousin Andrew 
Lewis rested his army at Fort 
Union and was ready to continue 



62 



the march to Point Pleasant, his 
forces were augmented by Col. 
Stuart's and one company com- 
manded by Capt. Robert McClan- 
naham. 

At Point Pleasant Captain 
Stuart's Company was one of 
the three sent up Crooked Creek 
in the flank movement that suc- 
cessfully put Cornstalk to rout. 

Col. Stuart did not go on with 
the further battles of the Revo- 
lution, but continued the defense 
of Fort Union and organized a 
force and went to the successful 
relief of Fort Donnally when that 
fort was so vigorously attacked 
by the Indians. 

November 25, 1780, Col. John 
Stuart became clerk of Green- 
brier. At the close of the first 
deed book he makes valuable his- 
torical notes including an ac- 
count of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. 

Col. Stuart married Agatha, 
the widow of John Frogg, killed 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
she the daughter of Thomas 
Lewis, hence already his kins- 
woman. They had four chil- 
dren, Margaret, who married 
General Andrew Lewis, son of 
Col. Charles Lewis; Jane 
married Robert Crockett; Char- 
les A. married Elizabeth Robin- 
son, and Lewis, who married, 
Sarah, the second daughter of 
Col. Charles Lewis. 

Col. Stuart became one of the 
best business men and largest 



land owners of Greenbrier 
County. In the splendid stone 
mansion he had built, he lavishly 
entertained. Here were wont 
to meet the most intelligent, pol- 
ished and distinguished men, 
not only of Virginia, but of other 
states and nations, and his 
generosity was only bounded by 
the demands of his neighbor- 
hood, 

1788, he was a member of the 
Virginia Constitutional Conven 
ti6n. In 1793, he was appointed 
Lieutenant Colonel of the 79th 
Regiment of Militia. In 1776, 
he and his wife each contributed 
500 pounds sterling to build the 
old stone church at Lewisburg, 
yet beautifully preserved. He 
was a member of seven literary 
societies including the American 
Philosophical Society. His li- 
brary was extensive and valu- 
able. He built in his own yard 
the first clerk's office of the 
county which is still standing. 
He presented the county the lot 
upon which the first court 
house at Lewisburg was built. 
He died August 23, 1823, and is 
interred in the old family bury- 
ing ground. 

Thomas Posey. 

Thomas Posey was born on 
the Potomac River in Virginia 
July 9, 1750. He early participa- 
ted with the Virginia militia and 
with the rank of Captain, was 
Quartermaster to the Army of 
General Lewis. 



63 



In 1775. he was appointed a 
member of the Committee of 
Safety and that year raised a 
company which he commanded 
and'assisted Gen' Andrew Lewis 
in driving Governor Dunmore 
from Gwinn's Island, July 8, 
1776. In 1777, he joined the 
Continental Army at Middle 
Brook, N. J. Here he became 
one of the distinguished picket 
men of Morgan's Riflemen, dis- 
tinguishing himself at Piscato- 
way, Bennington Heights and 
Stillwater. In 1778, he was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major, in 
command of the Morgan Rifle- 
men. In 1778, he commanded 
the 11th Virginia Regiment, At 
the close of that year he entered 
the artillery service and was in 
charge of a battery under Wayne 
in the attack upon Stony Point, 
one of the most thrilling incidents 
of the Revolution, being 1 the first 
field officer to enter the enemy's 
works. He witnessed the sur- 
render at Yorktown. He retir- 
ed with the ! rank of Brigadier 
General, settling at Spottsylvania 
Court House, Virginia. 1793, 
he removed to Kentucky, where 
he was elected Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor and, as such, President of 
the Senate. Moving to Louisiana 
in October, 1812, he was chosen 
to fill a vacancy in the United 
States Senate, President Har- 
rison appointed him Governor of 
Indiana Territory which honor 
he declined. He was agent of 



Indian affairs from 1813 to 1816. 
He died at Shawnee Town, 111., 
March 19, 1818. His first wife 
was the daughter of Colonel 
Sampson Mathews, of Virginia; 
his second wife, widow of Major 
Geo. Thornton, and daughter of 
John Alexander. 

Posey County, Indiana, com- 
memorates his name which name 
adds lustre to the roll of the 
army of General Lewis. 

John Lewis* 

Major John Lewis, a nephew 
of General Andrew Lewis with 
whom he was engaged at Point 
Pleasant, died in 1823, at his 
home at Sweet Springs. He was 
the son of Wm. Lewis, brother of 
Gen. Andrew Lewis. He was 
noted for bis courage, integrity 
and high sense of honor and con- 
tinued in the service of the Col- 
onies throughout the Revolution. 
As a Lieutenant he was engaged 
at Monmouth, Saratoga, Trenton 
and spent the winter of 1777 at 
Valley Forge. He rose to the 
rank of Major, which rank he 
held at Monmouth. In 1783 he 
returned to his Virginia home, 
but was much engaged on the 
frontier until the close of 
Wayne's Campaign. He was 
five feet, ten inches high, com- 
pactly built, muscular, strong 
and courageous. At the time of 
his death, he was an Elder in the 
Presbyterian Church. 

William Clendernin. 

William Clendennin was a pri- 



64 



vate in the Battle of Point Pleas- 
ant. Later he was commission- 
ed Major in the Kanawha Militia. 
He represented Kanawha Coun- 
ty in the Virginia Assembly in 
1796-1801-1803. He was a Col- 
lector of Levies 1792-1793-1794. 
He was a justice of the peace 
and member of the first Court in 
the County, held at his house in 
1789. In 1790, he settled in 
what is now Mason County, W. 
Va., In 1804, he carried the 
petition to the Virginia Assem- 
bly asking for the organization 
of Mason County Virginia and in 
1805, was the first representative 
of that county. 

Major Clendennin had settled 
about 1797 at Eight Mile, Mason 
County. In 1802 he purchased a 
part of the Hugh Mercer tract 
and built the first log cabin in 
Clendennin District, Mason 
County, and many of his descen- 
dants are living in Mason and ad- 
joining counties in West Vir- 
ginia and Ohio. By his son 
Charles, whose son William mar- 
ried Sophia Neale of Gallipolis, 
their son, James B. Clendennin, 
is survived by a daughter, Mrs. 
George Wallis, of Apple Grove. 

Sophia, daughter of William 
Clendennin, married John Miller, 
and her sister Ann, married 
Henry Miller, both of Gallipulis. 
Another sister, Elizabeth, mar- 
ried John Bing of Gallia County, 
Ohio, from whom decended a 
large family. Their second child, 



Martha Young Bing, born in 
Gallia County, Ohio, Oct. 24, 
1805. died Oct. 30, 1900, was the 
ancestor of the Fil^on and Cable 
families of Mason County, West 
Virginia. 

Archibald Clendennin. 

Archibald Clendennin, brother 
of William and George, married 
Nancy Ewing a n d lived on a 
farm a mile from Lewisburg. 
The family were attacked by In- 
dians, and Archibald Clendennin 
was killed. His wife was cap- 
tured by the Indians, but made 
her escape. 

Benjamin L ogan 

Benjamin Logan was born in 
Agusta County, Virginia, in 
1752. He emigrated to Penn- 
sylvania from Ireland, when a 
child, and when but fourteen, 
emigrated with his parents from 
Pennsylvania to Virginia, where 
his father died. By the law of 
entail then prevailing in Virginia 
he became the heir of his fathers 
estate, but he divided it with 
his mother, brothers and sisters. 
He married Lid settled on the 
Holsten river and was with Col. 
Henry Boquet in his expedition 
against the Indians. He was in 
the battle of Point Pleasant. In 
1775 he emigrated to Kentuckey 
with Daniel Boone and establish- 
ed Logans Fort, where he moved 
with his family the following year. 
He was one of the most daring 
of Kentucky pioneers and his 
defense and relief of his fort is 



65 



one of the most thrilling pages in 
Kentucky history. His expedi- 
tion against the Indians at Chil- 
licothe in which the Indians were 
put to rout and their supplies 
captured, including 150 horses, 
was admirably planned and exe- 
cuted. In 1788 he led a regi- 
ment of 600 men against the In- 
dians of the North West. He 
passed his declining years in 
Shelby County, Kentucky, on bis 
extensive farm, dying, Dec, 11, 
1802. He was six feet three 
tall, powerfully built with nerves 
and courage like a lion. His son 
Wm. was the first white child 
born in Kentucky and became an 
eminent lawyer, being twice ap- 
pointed, appellate Judge of Ken- 
tucky and in 1820 was a. United 
States Senator from Kentucky. 

John Logan. 

John Logan brother of Benja- 
min was engaged in the Battle 
of Point Pleasant. He emigrat- 
ed from Virginia to Kentucky 
where he was a military leader 
and several times was a repre- 
sentative. 

George Clendennin. 

George Clendennin who par- 
ticipated in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, represented Green- 
brier County in the Convention 
at Richmond, 1788, that ratified 
the Federal Constitution of Vir- 
ginia. In that year, he purchas- 
ed 1030 acres of land, the site of 
the present city of Charleston, 
and in that year built Fort Lee, 



afterward called Fort Clenden- 
nin. In 1794, the town of 
Charleston was laid off, which 
was not named, but finally called 
Charlestown, in honor of Charles 
Clendennin, father of George. 

The first court was held in Kan- 
awha County, Oct. 5, 1789, at the 
residence of George Clendennin, 
a County Lieutenant. He was 
one of the first representatives 
of Kanawha County, 1790-1791- 
1792 1794-1795. In 1794 he was 
made a trustee for the newly 
laid off town of Point Pleasant. 

His wife was Jemima, claimed 
by some to be the sister of Thos. 
Ewing, of Ohio, but which has 
been found to be an error. He 
died after 1795, when his name 
last appears as signing a deed 
and in 1797 his wife appeared in 
court as his widow, when she 
gave bond as administratrix. 

Parthena, daughter of George 
and Jemima, Clendennin married 
John Meigs of Marietta, Ohio. 
John Meigs dying, his widow 
married Major Andrew Bryan, 
their daughter Mary married 
John McCulloch, from whom de- 
scended Mrs. M. M. Moore, Mrs. 
P. S, Lewis, Mrs. J. J. Bright, 
John A. and Charles E. McCul- 
loch, who were reared on a farm 
below Kanawha in Arbuckle Dis- 
rict, Mason Co., West Virginia. 

Mary, the third daughter of 
George Clendennin, married 
Major John Cantrell whose only 
daughter became the wife of the 



66 



late C. C. Miller, of Mason county, 
who has left many descendants. 

Alexander Breckenridge 

Alexander Breckenridge nam- 
ed for his maternal grandfather 
Alexander Breckenridge was in 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, and 
later served as Colonel in the 7th, 
Virginia in the Revolution, re- 
signing in 1778. He was for many 
years Clerk of Augusta County. 

He and Patrick Henry married 
sisters. 

Capt. John Lewis 

Captain John Lewis eldest son 
of Thos. Lewis was a nephew of 
Gen'l Andrew Lewis. He was 
born in 1749. He was wounded 
at the battle of Point Pleasant. 
He engaged in the struggles of 
the Revolution, was at Valley 
Forge and Jersey, and witness- 
ed the surrender of Cornwallis. 

Stephen Trigg. 

Capt. Stephen Trigg, of the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, was a 
member of the Virginia Assem- 
bly from Fincastle in 1774, when 
Governor Dunmore dissolved 
that body. He signed the Arti- 
cles of Association of the Colo- 
nies in 1775 and was active in 
protecting the frontier during 
the Revolution. In 1779 he emi- 
grated to Kentucky and repre- 
sented that county in the Vir- 
ginia Assembly 1780, While 
leading a charge at the Battle of 
Blue Licks, 1782, he was killed. 
William Herbert, 

Captain William Herbert was 



a Captain of Fincastle Militia, 
who participated in the Battle of 
Point Pleasant. He died 1776. 

Walter Crockett. 

Captain Walter Crockett was 
born on the South Fork of the 
Holston River. He was a coun- 
ty magistrate. He continued in 
the patriot army after the Battle 
of Point Pleasant and distin- 
guished himself at King's Moun- 
tain, 1780. 

John Floyd. 

John Floyd, who was a school 
teacher, made his home with Col. 
Wm. Preston, of Fincastle Coun- 
ty, was a native of Virginia, born 
1750. In 1774, he was appointed 
a deputy sheriff. In the spring 
of 1774, he led a surveying party 
to Kentucky and, returning, 
joined Wm. Christian in the 
Point Pleasant expedition, arriv- 
ing too late to actively engage in 
the battle, but was active in the 
good offices of his company in 
ministering to the needs of the 
army. He married Jane JJuck- 
hannon, niece of Col. Preston, 
and in 1779 located in Kentucky, 
where, in 1783, he was killed by 
Indians. His son, John Floyd, 
who was born in Jefferson Coun- 
ty, Virginia, 1770, represented 
Virginia in Congress 1817-1829, 
— Governor of Virginia 1829- 
1834. South Carolina cast 
her electoral vote for him for 
president in 1832. His son, 
John B. Floyd, grandson of the 
John Floyd of Point Pleasant 



67 



campaign, was a member of the 
Virginia Legislature 1847 and 
was Governor of Virginia 1850- 
1853 and was Secretary of War 
under President Jarne_sjkick- 
hannan. He was indicted by 
the government, charged, with 
the misuse of government sup- 
plies and funds. He demanded 
a trial and was exonerated. He 
resigned his position and became 
Gen. John Floyd of the Confed- 
erate Army. He married Sallie 
Buckhannan, granddaughter of 
Wm. Campbell, of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, and a niece of 
Patrick Henry. They had no 
children. 

Benjamin Lewis* 

Quoting from the biography of 
his decendant, State Historian 
and Archivest Virgil Anson 
Lewis, in "Men of West Vir- 
ginia" (1903) page 31, ''His pa- 
ternal ancestors were among the 
first settlers of the Shenandoah 
Valley, where they were found- 
ers of the city of Staunton. 
They were active frontiersmen 
and participants in the Revolu- 
tionary and Indian Wars. His 
great grandfather, Benjamin 
Lewis, was wounded in the Battle 
of Point Pleasant and after the 
wars were over in 1792 settled in 
what is now Mason County, West 
Virginia, and is buried in Wag- 
goner District, near the spot 
where he thus found a home." 

The following from the War 
Department Adjutant General's 



Office, Washington, D. C, under 
date March 28, 1908, is authori- 
tative that after the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, he continued to 
serve in the patriot army : "It 
is shown by the records that one 
Benjamin Lewis who served as 
a seargent in Capt. John Spots- 
wood's Co. 10th Virginia Regi- 
ment Commanded successively 
by Col. Edmond Stevens and 
Major Samuel Harnes and Col. 
John Green, Revolutionary War. 
He enlisted November 29, 1776, 
to serve three years and was dis- 
charged July 5, 1778. 

Signed, F. C, Ainsworth 

The Adjutant General." 
That Benjamin Lewis above 
referred to was not a descendant 
of John Lewis, the founder of 
Staunton, we quote from a mem- 
orandum of Mrs. Sarah Lewis 
Rodgers, who was raised at the 
old Lewis home on Muddy Creek, 
in Greenbrier County, who mov- 
ed in pioneer days to Illinois. 
Writing to her nephew, Rev. 
Jacob H. Lewis, a Presbyterian 
minister, of Greenbrier county, 
the latter dying at 92 years of 
age, the manuscript is yet pre- 
served and says: 

"Our Lewis family in Green- 
brier county originated from 
three brothers, John George and 
Benjamin Lewis, who came to 
the county in an early day from 
the Valley of Virginia. About 
the close of the Revolution, Ben- 
jamin went to the Ohio. George 



68 



Lewis never married. John 
married Miss McCrary and their 
sister, a Mrs. Van Orzel, is 
buried iu the old Caraway grave- 
yard." 

None of the sons of John Lew- 
is founder of Staunton Virginia 
left descendants such as those 
above described, but it has been 
claimed that the above Benjamin 
was the son of Thomas, he the 
son of John. Mrs. M. L. Price, 
West Virginia historian of the 
John Lewis family from whom 
she descends, says Thomas 
Lewis' son, Win. Benjamin, was 
born 1778 (four years after the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, in which 
the family traditions and papers 
have always shown Benjamin 
Lewis to have been) while L. L. 
Lewis, of Richmond, recognized 
as an authority on the John Lew- 
is, Staunton, branch, says: 
"Thomas Lewis had a son Ben- 
jamin, but he lived and died in 
Rockingham County, Virginia." 

As early as 1812 we find in 
Mason county that Benjamin 
Lewis conveyed land which was 
acquired before Mason County 
was formed, as the land books 
show no transfer to him in that 
county prior to 1812 and he con- 
tinued to buy and convey lands 
as the records show, and that in 
1831 there was much conveying 
of titles of his lands by his chil- 
dren which would indicate that 
he died on or before that year. 
Land conveyances show the 



given name of the wife of Benja- 
min Lewis to have been Nancy, 
and their children to have been 
Sarah, who married Samuel Ed- 
wards, John who married 

Edwards, Benjamin, Jr., who 
emigrated to Iowa, Catherine 
who married Michael Newhouse, 
George who married Margaret 
Winkleblack, William who mar- 
ried Lucinda Clendennin, An- 
drew, Isaac and probably others. 
Josiah Ramsey. 

After being engaged in the 
Battle of Point Pleasant, Josiah 
Ramsey returned to Augusta 
County. He served as a scout 
in the Cherokee campaign of 
1776. [n 1778, he removed to 
Kentucky. In 1779, he moved to 
Cumberland Settlement, where 
he was appointed Major of Mili- 
tia and was frequently engaged 
against the Indians. He lived 
to an advanced age spending the 
close of bis life with a son in 
Missouri. 

William Bowen. 

William Bowen, often related a 
hand to hand encounter with an 
Indian antagonist at Point Pleas- 
ant whom he finally overpowed. 
He was a native of Maryland, 
born 1744. In 1759 he engaged 
in the border warfare with Wm. 
Christian. In early life, he had 
moved to Augusta County, Vir- 
ginia. In 1784 he removed to 
Summers County, Tennessee, 
where he passed the remainder 
of his life. 



69 



Joseph Drake. 

Joseph Drake who was with 
Wm. Christian's Regiment at 
Point Pleasant, had served as a 
private in Boquet's expedition 
in 1764. He was one of the 
Long Hunters 1770-71. In 1773 
be married Margaret, daughter 
of Col. John Buchhanan. In 
1775, he visited Kentucky and in 
June of that year led an explor- 
ing party on Green River. He 
resided at Abington, Virginia 
until 1778, when he moved to 
near Boonesborough, Ky., and 
in August of that year was killed 
by the Indians. He was a typi- 
cal frontiersman. 

William Edmiston. 

Lieutenant William Edmiston 
(Edmondston) a native of Mary- 
land, born 1734, moved at an 
early date to Augusta County, 
Virginia. He was a private in 
the French an Indian War and 
the Cherokee Campaign 1760. 
In 1763 he was appointed Lieu- 
tenant of Militia for Augusta 
County. He was in Capt. Wm. 
Campbell's Company at Point 
Pleasant and was his second in 
command at King's Mountain, 
in which eight members of 
his family were engaged, three 
of whom were killed. One of 
those who survived of that fami- 
ly was James Edmiston who has 
descendants living in many coun- 
ties in West Virginia, including 
the county of Mason. 



William Ingles. 

Major William Ingles, who, at 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, was 
in charge of a commissary with 
the rank of Major, was a native 
of Ireland, born 1729, emigrating 
with his father when a child to 
Pennsylvania, settling with John 
Draper at Draper's Mead- 
ows in 1748. In 1750 he 
married Mary Draper, whose 
capture by, and escape from, 
the Indians, is one of the 
thrilling pages of pioneer history. 
During the Indian Wars, Wm. 
Ingles was active in defense of 
the frontiers. In 1756 he was a 
Lieutenant in the Sandy Creek 
expedition. In 1758-60, he de- 
fended the fort at Ingle's Ferry. 
In 1777 he was made Colonel of 
Militia in the organization of 
Montgomery County. In 1782, 
he died at his home at Ingles 
Ferry. 

Thomas Ingles. 

Thomas Ingles was with his 
mother, Mary Ingles, who was 
captured by the Indians, remain- 
ing with them until 1768, practi- 
cally becoming a young Indian in 
his habits. Returning to his 
home for a few years, he tried to 
adopt the habits of civilization 
and education, but he never for- 
got his Indian friends. He was 
in the battle of Point Pleasant, 
remaining the following winter 
in the Fort, during which time 
he visited the Indians at Scioto. 
In 1782, his wife was captured by 



70 



the Indians and his home burned. 
He removed afterward to Ten- 
nessee, thence to Mississippi, 
where he died. 

Henry Pauling. 

Capt. Henry Pauling- who com- 
manded a company of Bottetourt 
troops at Point Pleasant.' con 
tinued in frontier service and in 
1777 went with Col, Bowman to 
the relief of the Kentucky 
frontier soon after which he set- 
tled in that state and represented 
Lincoln County, Ky,, in the con- 
vention of that state that ratified 
the Constitution of the United 
States, but he voted against the 
ratification of that instrument. 

Francis Slaughter. 

Col. Francis Slaughter who 
was at the battle of Point Pleas- 
ant was a member of one of the 
best Virginia Families. He 
married a daughter of Robert 
Coleman of Dunmore and in 1785 
moved to Kentucky, settling- in 
Hardin County. 

Lawrence And George Slaughter. 

Lawrence and George Slaugh- 
ter each married a daug-hter of 
Col, John Field and both were 
in his regiment at the Battle of 
Point Pleasant. Col. George 
Slaughter in 1776 raising a com- 
pany, participated in the 8th Va. 
Reg. at Brandy wine and German- 
town. In 1779 he joined Shelby 
in the Chickamauga Campaign 
and in that winter started to re- 
enforce George Rodgers Clark, 
but was obliged to winter at 



Louisville, Ky., joiuing him the 
following June, after which he 
returned to Virginia and in 1784 
represented his county in the 
house of Delegates. Later he 
moved to Jefferson county, Ken- 
tucky, thence to Charleston, Ind., 
where he died June 17, 1819. 

The McAfee Brothers. 

McAfee station on Salt River, 
in Mercer County, Kentucky, 
commemorates the name of five 
McAfee brothers, James, Robert, 
George, William and Samuel, 
who lived on Sinking Creek, 
Bottetourt County, Virginia, 
from which place they finally all 
emigrated to Kentucky, in 1779. 
The first three named with 
James McConn, Jr., and Samuel 
Adams, were Kentucky explor- 
ers in 1772 with Col. Bullit and 
Hancock Taylor. They all par- 
ticipated in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. 

William McAfee was in the 
George Rodgers Clarke expedi- 
tion and was killed in 1780. 
George died in 1803 at his home 
on Salt River. Samuel died in 
1801, James in 1814, and Robert 
who was one of the early dealers, 
who, by flat boat, took large car- 
goes of produce to New Orleans, 
in 1795, when on such a mission, 
was killed by a Spaniard in 
that city, who was attempting to 
rob him. They left descendants, 
many of whom are yet residents 
of Kentucky. 



71 



James Knox. 

Major James Knox served un- 
der Col. Chester in the capacity 
of scout in 1774. During - the 
Revolution he commanded a com- 
pany of^ Morgan's Riflemen en- 
gaged at Saratoga and Stillwater, 
returning with the rank of Ma- 
jor. Settling in Kentucky, he 
married Mrs. Logan, the widow 
of Benjamin Logan, who was in 
the Battle of Point Pleasant. 
James Knox died in 1822. He 
had accumulated a good fortune 
and was respected by all who 
knew him. 

John Madison. 

John Madison was of the dis- 
tinguished Virginia family that 
gave to America the president of 
that name, being a first cousin of 
President Madison. His son- 
James Madison, was the first 
American Episcopal Bishop. 
Other of his sons who distin- 
guished themselves were 
Thomas, Rowland and George, 
who emigrated to Kentucky. 
John Madison was the first 
Clerk of Augusta County and 
represented that county in the 
Virginia Assembly in 1751-52. 
He married a Miss Strother, sis- 
ter to the wives of Thomas Lew- 
is and Gabriel Jones of Augusta 
County. 

Kimberling. 

Elijah Kimberling of Bath 
County, Va., who was-engaged 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
returned to Bath County, Va., 



where he resided until the time 
of his death. So pleased, how- 
ever, were his sons with his de- 
scription of the Kanawah Valley, 
that his four sons, Joseph, 
James, Jacob and Nathaniel emi- 
grated to Mason County West 
Virginia and located on farms in 
Union District, near Arbuckle 
Postoffice. They became the- 
progenitors of a large and influ- 
ential family in the Kanawha 
Valley. Among whom were 
Elijah Kimberling, for many 
years a public official of Mason 
County, who married Margaret 
Catherine Jones, a native of Cul- 
pepper Couuty, Virginia, daugh- 
ter of Joseph Jones, and Ann 
"Winn, his wife. 

William Ewing. 
William Ewing, a member of 
Arbuckle's company at Point 
Pleasant, settled on Swago Creek, 
tributary to the Greenbrier, 
near Buckeye, Va. He was one 
of the garrison at Point Pleasant 
and witnessed the murder of 
Cornstalk. 

William McKee. 

William McKee, born in Ire- 
land in 1732, and, emigrating 
when a youth to the Valley of 
Virginia, was in the Braddock 
Campaign. At Point Pleasant 
he was a lieutenant in Captain 
Murray's company. He later , 
represented Rockbridge County 
in the Virginia Legislature and 
voted in favor of the adoption of 
the Constitution. He emigrated 



72 



to Lincoln County, Kentucky, 
where he died in 1316. 

Charles Simms. 

Charles Simtns was in the divis- 
ion commanded by Col. Lewis who 
expired in his arms. In the con- 
tinental army he was first major 
of the 12th Virginia, later Lieut. 
Col. of the 6th Va. and later of 
the 2nd Virginia Regiment. On 
Dec. 7, 1777, he resigned from 
the army and practiced law at 
Alexandria, Virginia, where he 
continued to reside until the time 
of his death. 

George Moffatt. 

Captain George Moffatt was 
born in 1735. His father was 
killed by indians in 1749, enroute 
to South Carolina. In 1763, 
George was Captain of a com- 
pany of Rangers in pursuit of 
Indians that had killed his step- 
father, John Trimble, and cap- 
tured his sister and half brother. 
He rescued his loved ones. Col- 
Wm. Christian was his uncle and 
Samuel McDowell his brother-in- 
law and in the battle at Point 
Pleasant, with him were many 
of his kindred. In the war of 
the Revolution he was active and 
commanded a regiment at Guil- 
ford Court House. From 1781- 
83 he was County Lieutenant of 
Augusta. He died at his home 
eight miles northwest of Staun- 
ton in 1811. 

John Murray. 

Capt. John Murray, killed in 
the battle of Point Pleasant, was 



a brother in-law of ,Col. Charles 
Lewis, and a half-brother of 
Charles Cameron, and Geo. Cam- 
eron, the last named, was killed 
in the battle. 

William Trotter. 

William Trotter who was en- 
gaged in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, was an Englishman by 
birth, coming to America and an 
indentured servant. Coming at 
the same time with Ann Hennis, 
who, like him, was 4 'sold out" to 
defray the expense of their pas- 
sage. They were bought in 
Augusta County, Va., and when 
his term of service had expired, 
he enlisted with Col. Charles 
Lewis, and was killed in the Bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant. This so 
incensed his widow that she don- 
ned a semi-male attire and with 
rifle and tomahawk she was seen 
at musters like a man. Later 
she married James Bailey. 
James Bailey. 

James Bailey, who was with 
Col. Charles Lewis and who 
afterward married Ann Hennis, 
the widow of Richard Trotter, is 
more noted for being the hus- 
band of Ann Bailey, the heroine 
of the Kanawha Valley than for 
his own achivements. He was 
assigned to garrison dnty at 
Fort Clendennin where the pres- 
ent city of Charleston is now 
located. Ann Bailey was the 
mother of one son, William Trot- 
ter, who located in Harrison 
Township, Gallia, Ohio, where 
his descendants yet reside. 



73 



Waiter Newman. 

. Walter Newman, a native of 
Pennsylvania, was in the Battle 
of Point Pleasant and was one of 
the first to locate here when the 
new town was laid off. He pur- 
chased the grounds upon which 
the Mansion House in Tue Endie 
Wei Park now stands and built 
the first hewn log" house in the 
county, which, for its beauty and 
size, was called the Mansion 
House. The house was built in 
1796. In August, 1804, he was 
licensed to establish a ferry 
across both the rivers, Ohio and 
Kanawha, and granted a license 
to sell spirituous liquors and 
keep an ordinary at bis house in 
the town of Point Pleasant. 
This was the first place in which 
liquor was ever legally sold in 
the county. Mr. Newman was 
also the first man in the county 
to support a missionary, sending 
his nephew, Rev. James New- 
man, as a missionary to South 
America. 

William Moore. 

William Moore, of Rockbridge 
County, after the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, became Capt. Wm. 
Moore of the Revolution. He 
was a merchant of Lexington, 
Virginia, and purchased the first 
bag of coffee ever purchased in 
Virginia, which he found slow 
sale for. Later, he built an iron 
furnace at South River in Rock- 
bridge Co. He was a Justice of 
the Peace for many years and 



served as high sheriff of Rock- 
bridge for two terms. He died 
in 1841, aged 93 years. His wife 
was Miss Nancy McClung, by 
whom he had children, Samuel, 
David, John, Eliab, Joseph, Isa- 
bella, Elizabeth and Nancy. 

John Lyle. 

John Lyle, of Capt. McDowell's 
Company, became Rev. John 
Lyle, of Hampshire County, now 
West Virginia, a pioneer minis- 
ter, who proved to be a power 
for good in that region. 

William Robertson. 

William Robertson of Augusta 
County, was commissioned a 
Lieutenant July, 1775. He dis- 
tinguished himself at Great 
Bridge, Brandywine and Ger- 
mantown. He died Nov. 12, 
1831. 

John Lewis. 

Captain John Lewis, son of 
Thomas Lewis, of Augusta Co., 
was with his uncle, Andrew 
Lewis, at Point Pleasant, where 
be was wounded. He was born 
in 1749, died 1788, leaving four 
children. He served under 
Washington at Valley Forge and 
in the Jerseys and witnessed the 
surrender of Cornwallis. 

John Frogg. 

The Sutler of the Army, was 
killed at Point Pleasant, Oct. 10 
1774, by the Indians and was 
there buried. 

He came to Staunton from the 
Rappahannock and married, 
Miss Agatha Lewis, a daughter 



74 



of Thomas Lewis a brother of 
General Andrew and Col. 
Charles Lewis, and when the* 
Army started for the Ohio river, 
Mr. Frogg was appointed the 
Sutler and went with them. 

He was a handsome young- 
man, gallant, generous and fond 
of display and, spoken of as a 
very worthy gentleman and pop- 
ular with the men, and by one 
writer, when giving a list of the 
dead, spoke of him, as "poor 
John Frogg." 

When be went into the battle, 
he had on a brilliant red jacket, 
which made him a prominent 
mark for Indians and when he 
fell, there were no less than five 
Indians that had made an at 
tempt to secure his scalp, and 
all five of them were found dead 
on the ground where poor John 
lay. It is tradition that the little 
daughter was awakened from 
her sleep at three several times 
by the dream of her father be- 
ing killed by the Indians, which 
she related to her mother several 
days before it was known that 
there had been a battle. Mr. 
Frogg was related to the Strother 
family, one of whom was the wife 
of John Madison, Clerk of Augus- 
ta Co., one was the wife of 
Gabriel Jones, the Crown's At- 
torney for said County and the 
other was the wife of Thomas 
Lewis, the Surveyor of said 
County. 

His widow became the wife of 



Capt John Stuart of Greenbrier 
who was also in said battle; and 
his daughter married a Mr. 
Estill. 

It may not have been the' duty 
of Mr. Frogg to go into the bat-*, 
tie at all, but it is certain he was 
not required to attire himself in 
a brilliant red jacket and make of 
himself a mark for sharpshooters 
and loose nis life, but, it required 
five Indians to pay for his life. 

Agatha Lewis, his wife, was 
born May 18, 1753 and she 
married Capt. John Stuart Nov. 
18, 1776. 

William McCorkle. 

William McCorkle, who engag- 
ed in the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
was Ihe son of Alexander Mc 
Corcle (McCorkle) who had his 
American origin in Pennsylvania, 
in the Scotch-Irish reservoir of 
the Cumberland Valley, among 
the other Scotch Irish, who, emi- 
grating to the Valleys of the 
Shenandoah and James, became 
he very seat of culture and the 
greatest factors in Virginia's 
power, and gave that state her 
prominence in the sisterhood of 
states. 

In the spring of 1774 Wm. Mc- 
Corkle was making preparations 
to emigrate with a great body of • 
Virginians to Kentucky and, on 
June 3rd of that year, a survey 
of 1,000 acres of land was set 
aside for him near the present 
city of Louisville. 

Indian hostilities necessitating 



75 



the protection of the frontier, 
and although not a young man, 
Wm. McCorkle enlisted as a vol- 
unteer in Captain John Murry's 
Company from Botetourt and en- 
gaged in the Point Pleasant 
Campaign. He returned to 
Rockbridge County to the lands 
be held near Lexington, and 
which had continued in the pos- 
session of his descendants until 
1894, when it passed into the 
hands of strangers. 

Soon after the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, Wm. McCorkle died 
but he had offered upon his 
country's altar his son, John Mc- 
Corkle, who, when but twenty- 
three years of age, was killed at 
the Battle of Cowpens, while 
serving under Gen. Morgan. 

John- McCorkle married Re 
becca Nutt, and was survived 
by his two sons, Alexander and 
Samuel, the younger Samuel be- 
ing the progenitor of five sons, 
the youngest of whom was Wil- 
liam McCorkle, whose oldest son 
is Ex-Governor William A. Mc- 
Corkle, who served as Governor 
of West Virginia, from March 4, 
1893, to March 4, 1897, and is 
now located at Charleston, West 
Virginia, where, as a historical 
memorial, he has erected the 
most beautiful home in the state, 
"SUNRISE", on the summit of 
. the mountain; embellished with 
historic stones and furnished 
and decorated vvith historic mem- 
entoes, demonstrating that his 



heredity has made him revere 
the past as it has made him boun- 
tifully prepare for the future. 
Robert Campbell. 
Robert Campbell, who was en- 
gaged in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, was born in the Valley 
of Virginia in 1755. He was en- 
gaged tnroughout the Revolution. 
He displayed great bravery in 
his conflicts with the Cherokees. 
He was in command of a Regi- 
ment at King's Mountain, Oct. 
7, 1780 For forty years he was 
a magistrate of Washington 
County, Virginia. In 1825, he 
emigrated to Tennessee with 
his children and there died. 

John Carter. 

John Carter became a pioneer 
of Tennessee. During the Rev- 
olution, he was elected with John 
Sevier and Charles Robertson to 
the Convention that assembled 
at Hartford, N. C, in 1785, and 
framed a Constitution for the 
State of Franklin, which was re- 
united with North Carolina in 
1788. 

Matthew Bracken, 

Matthew Bracken had been a 
surveyor with Thomas Hanson 
from Virginia in the exploration 
and surveying expedition to Ken- 
tucky, which left Fincastle on 
April7th, 1774. "Bracken Creek" 
in Mason county, Kentucky, 
commemorates his name. He 
returned to Kentucky in time to 
enlist as an ensign in the comp- 
any of Capt. Robert McClena- 



76 



nan's Company of volunteers 
from Botetourt. He was killed 
in the Battle of Point Pleasant 
and his remains were buried 
within the forty foot reservation, 
now a part of Tu-Endie- Wei 
Park, at the mouth of the 
Kanawha. 

Capt. John Lewis. 

Capt John Lewis eldest son of 
Gen'l Andrew Lewis married 
Miss Patsy Love of Alexandria 
Virginia who had four children. 
His eldest son Andrew married 
Jane McClenahan of Botetourt 
County Virginia and they were 
the parents of six children who 
lived to maturity. Jocin, William 
and Samuel locating in Kanawha 
County near the mouth of Scarv. 

John Lewis known as Coal Riv- 
er John was a man of great wealth 
and prominence and from him 
through his daughter Marjorie 
who married 1st Edward Kenna 
and 2nd Richard Ashbey has de- 
scended through this first mar- 
riage Hon. John E. Kenna who 
represented the old third dis- 
trict of West Virginia three 
times in Congress and was twice 
elected to the United States Sen- 
at each time being the youngest 
member in either branch of Con 
gress. There are many descen- 
dants of Captain John Lewis 
living on the Kanawha including- 
Mr. Kenna's family the fami- 
ly of Mr. Kenna's sister Mrs. 
Gentry, the family of Hon. Jos. 



Gaines, M. C, Mr. Walter Ash- 
by and many others. 

Thomas Hacket 

Thomas Hacket (Haket) of 
Rich Creek Virginia was a mem- 
ber of Capt. Michael Woods 
Company at Point Pleasant, soon 
after which he settled at Peters- 
burg Virginia where he continu- 
ed to reside until after Waynes 
Treaty. Lured by the beauty 
and fertility of the Ohio Valley 
be settled at Kyger Ohio in Gal- 
lia County where he died and is 
buried, haying lived to the ad- 
vanced age of 104 years. 

Among other children he left 
a daughter Mary Ann Hacket 
who married Nimrod Kirk whose 
daughter Elizabeth (Betsey) Kirk 
married George Knight. From 
George Knight descended the 
distinguished Dr. A. L. Knight 
of Mason County, prominent 
farmer James Knight of Pleasant 
Flats, the late Samuel Knight of 
Marietta, Ohio, Mr. George 
Knight of Clifton, and Mrs. 
Louise Meeks of Dallas, Mrs. 
Rebecca Brown of Hartford, 
and Mrs. Susan Hogg of Point 
Pleasant and their descendants. 
Capt. James Curry. 

Capt. Jas. Curry served under 
Gen'l Andrew Lewis and was 
severely wounded in the right 
arm at the battle of Point Pleas- 
ant. His home at that time was 
near Staunton Virginia. When 
at the age of 22 years he enlisted 
as a private. 



77 



Michael See. 

While at work outside the 
fort at Point Pleasant in a 
field near where James Capehart 
now resides, in August 1791 
Michael See and Robert St. Clair 
were killed by Indians. Thomas 
Northrop and a colored boy be- 
longing to See were captured 
and carried away prisoners. 
# Michael See who had been en- 
gaged in the battle of Point 
Pleasant was living- with his fam- 
ily within the fort where the 
vnight of his death his wife 
gave birth to a son, Wm. See. 
from whom descend the Sees of 
Mason County West Virginia 

We are indebted to Rev. Price, 
of Marlinton and Rev. C. W. 
McDonnald, of H u 1 1 o n s v i 1 1 e, 
Randolph Co., descendants of 
Michael See who send the follow- 
ing gleaned from the history of 
Randolph county: "Michael See, 
of German ancestry, and using 
the language in his family is be- 
lieved to have been born in 
Pennsylvania. He came from 
that state to South Branch, what 
is now Hardy County, W. Va , 
about 1765. His father's name 
was Frederick Michael See, of 
him but little is known except ho 
had a son Adam, but Adam never 
lived in Randolph county 
Michael See, son of Frederick 
See was among the early settlers 
of Tygarts valley, Randolph Co., 
and his children intermarried 
with the following prominent 



families more than a century 
since. 

Anthony See married Julia 
Leonard; Adam See married 
Margaret Warwick, daughter of 
Jacob Warwick, the pioneer of 
whose name appears in the 
Pocahontas sketches; Polly See, 
of Michael married George See. 
Her daughter Georgiana became 
Mrs. Capt. J. W. Marshall, a 
noted confederate officer and 
promoter of public improvement. 
Barbara See married William 
McCleary; John See married 
Miss Stewart, and Noah married 
Margaret Long 

Col. James Curry. 

March, 1900, Mr. W. S. 
Curry of Columbus, Ohio, 
Registrar of the Sons of the Rev- 
olution, sent us an account of his 
grandfather Col James Curry, 
above referred to. It follows: 

"James Curry was closely en- 
gaged throughout the greater 
part of the day fighting from be- 
hind first one tree and then an- 
other but later in the day was 
shot through the right elbow. 
It is said he asked the surgeon 
who dressed his wound 'If it 
would hurt him to take a drink 
of wine?' to which the surgeon re- 
plied 'Noif \ou take it with the 
Surgeon.' He remained in the 
garrison until recovered from 
his wounds. 

He served in the army through- 
out the Revolution as Captain in 
the Fourth Va. Inft, participa- 



78 



ting- in the battle of Brandy wine, 
Yorktown. He was wounded at 
the siege of Charleston, S. C. and 
taken prisoner May 12, 1871 by 
Gen. Lincoln's Army. 

After the Revolution he settled 
at Staunton, served a term as 
Clerk, of the Court for Augusta 
Co. In 1797 he moved to High- 
land County Ohio where he en- 
tered a Virginia Military tract 
of land/' 

Solomon Brumfield 

Solomon Brumfield who enlis- 
ted under Gen'l. Andrew Lewis 
at Staunton resided where the 
city of Washington is now built. 
Wm. Hamilton. 

Wm. Hamilton was an orderly 
at Point Pleasant in the army of 
Gen'l. Lewis and when the battle 
began was sent as a messenger 
to hasten the regiments in 
command of Capt. Wm. Chris- 
tion whom he met at the 
mouth of 13 mile creek, the pres- 
ent site of the village of Leon. 
Here a few were left in charge 
of supplies while the remainder 
of the companies marched on to 
Point Pleasant arriving at about 
11 o'clock. 

Bazaleel Wells 

Bazaleel Wells, afterward Gen'l 
Wells of the Revolution, became 
the founder of Steubenville, 
Ohio, and helped to form the 
first Constitution of Ohio. He 
was then a member of the Ohio 
Senate and was probably the 
wealthiest man in Eastern Ohio 



at the begining of the century. 
It was he who financed the build- 
ing of the Zanesville road the 
great highway of Ohio that prov- 
ed to be the great artery of com- 
merce of that successful, pro- 
gressive new state. 

John Murry, Earl of Dunmore. 

(LORD DUNMORE.) 

In reviewing, (by many histor- 
ians,) the life and character o£ 
Lord Dunmore, there are none 
who have more truly recorded 
his character than Hu Maxwell, 
in his history of Hampshire 
County, who says on page 51: 

"Before proceeding to a narra- 
tive of the events of the Dunmore 
War, it is not out of place to in 
quire concerning Governor Dun- 
more, and whether from his past 
acts and general character he 
would likely conspire with the 
British and the Indians to de- 
stroy the western settlements in 
Virginia. Whether the British 
were capable of an act so savage 
and unjust as inciting savages to 
harrass the western frontier of 
their own colonies is not a mat- 
ter for controversy. It is a fact 
that they did do it during the 
Revolutionary War." 

As to a confirmation of the 
character of Dunmore and .his 
methods we quote again from 
the same author, relating to 
events subsequent to the Battle 
of Point Pleasant: 

"Dunmore had trouble else- 
where, His domineering con- 



79 



duct and his support of some of 
Great Britian's oppressive 
measures, caused him to be 
hated by the Virginians, and led 
to armed resistance. Thereup- 
on he threatened to make Vir- 
g nia a solitude using* these word; 
t4 I do enjoin the true and loyal 
subjects to repair to my assist- 
ance, or I shall consider the 
whole country in Rebellion and 
myself at liberty to annoy it by 
every possible means, and I 
shall not hesitate to reduce 
houses to ashes, and spreading 
devastation wherever I can reach. 
With a small body of troops and 
arms, I could raise such a force 
from among Indians, negroes and 
other persons as would soon re- 
duce refractory people of them." 

The patriots finally rose in arms 
and drove Dunmore from the 
country. Some of these events 
occurred after the Dunmore War, 
but tbey serve to show what 
kind of a man the Governor was." 

He was born in England in 
May, 1709, descending from the 
house of Stuart. He succeeded 
to the peerage in 1756; appointed 
Governor of New York 1770; of 
Virginia, July, 1771. With a 
band of Tory followers, he plun- 
dered the inhabitants, residing 
on the James and York Rivers. 
He and his followers suffered 
defeat at the battle of Great 
Bridge, shortly after which he 
burned Norfolk, then the most 
prosperous city in Virginia. In 



1779, he returned to England, 
and, in 1786, was appointed Gov- 
ernor of the Bermudas. 

Logan . 

Tah-gah-jute, son of Shikellan- 
ny, chief of the Cayuga Indians, 
was born in about 1725. He was 
named Logan by the whites for 
James Logan, (the Secretary of 
Wm. Penn,) who had been such 
a friend of the Indians, that they 
accepted the name as a badge of 
honor. 

Logan was reared near the 
Moravian settlements and his 
relation to the whites had been 
most friendly. Throughout Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania he was 
known for his commanding pres- 
ence and engaging qualities. 
Residing with his family near 
Readsville, Penn., he supported 
them by hunting, and trap- 
ping and dressing hides which 
he disposed of to the whites. At 
this time, the Mingo tribe of In- 
dians chose him as their chief. 
About 1770, he moved to the 
banks of the Ohio, where, in the 
spring of 1774, his family were 
massacred, whereupon he sent a 
declaration of war to Michael 
Cressap, whom he believed had 
ordered the massacre. Thus 
began the fearful depredations 
that burst upon the frontier and 
Logan is said to have taken thirty 
scalps himself before the termi- 
nation of hostilities at Point 
Pleasant, where he was engaged 
that fearful October day. Sub- 



80 

A. 



sequent to the battle when the 
other Indian chiefs sued for 
peace, Logan disdained to partic- 
ipate in the treaty. Governor 
Dunmore sent John Gibson to 
personally invite him to the coun- 
cil and he then gave out that 
classic in English literature that 
has made so famous the name of 
Logan. It is as follows: 

"I appeal to any white man to 
say if he ever entered Logan's 
cabin hungry, and he gave him 
not meat; if he ever came cold 
and naked and he clothed him 
not. During the course of the 
last long and bloody war, Logan 
remained idle in his cabin, an ad- 
vocate of peace. Such was my 
love for tfte whites that my 
Countrymen pointed as they 
passed and said: 'Logan is the 
friend of the white men.' I had 
even thought to have lived with 
you- but for the injuries of one 
man. Cresap, the last spring, in 
cold blood and unprovoked, mur- 
dered all of the relations of 
Logan, not even sparing my 
woman and children. There 
runs not a drop of my blood in 
the veins of any living creature. 
This called for my revenge. I 
have sought it; I have fully glut- 
ted my vengeance. For my 
country, I rejoice at the beams 
of peace. But do not harbor 
the thought that mine is the joy 
of fear; Logan never felt fear 
He will not turn on his heel to 
save his life. Who is there to 



mourn for Logan? Not one." 

The speech wa,s written down, 
when Gibson repeated it to an 
officer, and published in the Vir- 
ginia Gazette. Thomas Jeffer 
son, a great admirer of Logan, 
took pains to e s t a b 1 i s h its 
authenticity and published it in 
his Notes on Virginia. 

Logan was killed by his neph- 
ew at Lake Erie in the summer 
of 1780. 

Cornstalk. 

Cornstalk, the celebrated 
Shawnee warrior, is first men- 
tioned in Colonial History in 1763, 
when about sixty Indians, led by 
Cornstalk attacked the settle- 
ment on Muddy Creek, in Green- 
brier Gounty, Virginia, when 
they pretended to be on a friend- 
ly mission, at which time they 
arose and murdered all except 
a few women and children, whom 
they took prisoners. From 
there the Indians went on to the 
Levels in the same county, to 
the home of Alexander Clenden- 
nin, where many were gathered 
enjoying the fruits of a success- 
ful chase and the Indians, too 
were treated with the utmost 
hospitality, but they a»*,ain mur- 
dered most of the inmates of 
that place. Mrs. Clendennin 
was carried away a prisoner and 
with others taken to Muddy 
Creek. 

For a year the Indian dep- 
redations were continued, un- 
til there was not a white set- 



81 



tiers left in Greenbrier County 
which was not again inhabited 
by whites until 1769, when Col. 
John Stuart and a few others be- 
came permanent settlers. 

It is said that Cornstalk was 
born in the Kanawha Valley 
about 1727. 

In the Battle of Point Pleasant, 
be commanded the array consist- 
ing of the flower of the Shawnee, 
Delaware, Wyandotte, Mingo and 
Cayuga braves, he being the 
King of the federation, in their 
herculian efforts to stay the on- 
coming tide of Saxon civilization. 
These Indians were fighting to 
maintain their homes and their 
hunting grounds, and, if the 
whites were ever to be repelled, 
it must be now. 

This was not the first time 
in battle array that the Shaw- 
nees had shown their skill 
as warriors. In the Braddock 
defeat and other campaigns 
they had proven themselves val- 
iant. They despised treaties 
and had chafed under that with 
Boquet so that at the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, they had deter- 
mined to be victorious. It was 
not that they favored Great 
Briton. All whites were alike to 
them except as they availed to 
help them save their hunting 
grounds; and here were gathered 
their ablest leaders: Cornstalk, 
Red Eagle, Scoppathus, Blue 
Jacket, Logan, Chief of the Ca - 
yugas, Illinipsico, Red Hawk, 



the noted Deleware Chief and 
others commanding the most 
formidable army every arrayed 
as an Indian phalanx. The 
story of their bravery has al- 
ready been related in the ac- 
counts of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, here in published. 

It were well for the white set- 
tlers, if the history of Cornstalk 
could have ended with the Battle 
at Point Pleasant. The treaty 
with the wnites following the 
battle, was maintained in the 
highest sense of honor by Corn- 
stalk. 

In the spring of 1777, when 
the great Indian uprising was 
again taking place, Cornstalk 
came to Fort Randolph at Point 
Pleasant to warn the whites of 
their danger and was retained 
as a hostage, during the whole of 
the summer. In November, his 
son, Illinipsico, came in search of 
his father, hallooing to be 
brought across the river. The 
next day two hunters crossed 
the Kanawha and, returning, 
one was killed by Indians, 
Some of the whites made a rush 
for the Indians detained at t he 
fort. Captain Arbuckle in com- 
mand tried to stay them, but 
incited by one of the Gilmores 
whose kindred had been massa- 
cred at Muddy Creek, Corn- 
stalk and his son, Illinipsico and 
Red Hawk were murdered in 
cold blood, by Captain James 
Hall and Hugh Galbraith leading 



82 



the men. The bravery of Corn- 
stalk called forth the admiration 
of even his brutal murderers, as 
he thus addressed Illinipsico. 

"My Son, the Great Spirit has 
seen fit that we should die to- 
g-ether, and has sent you here to 
that end. It is His will and let 
us submit; it is all for the best!" 
and then turning his face to his 
murderers at the door, he fell 
without a groan pierced with 
seven bullets." 

Cornstalk said the day before 
he was killed while attending a 
conference with the whites. 
"When I was a young man and 
went to war, I often thought each 
might be my last adventure, and 
I should return no more. I still 
lived. Now I am in the midst of 
you and if you choose you may 
kill me. I can die but once. It 
is alike to me whether now or 
hereafter." 

From the records of Rock- 
bride County we quote the fol- 
lowing. 

"At a court held in Rockbridge 
County, April 18, 1778, for the 
examination of Capt. James Hall 
and Hugh Gailbraith, charged 
with the murder of Cornstalk, no 
witnesses appearing, they were 
acquitted for the murder of 
Cornstalk and two other Indians 
in November, 1777, they denying 
their guilt." 

The remains of Cornstalk 
were intered at Point Pleasant 
outside the fort, where Viand 



intersects with First Street, but 
in August 4, 1840, when Viand 
Street was opened, his remains 
were removed to the Court 
House yard. Dr. Samuel G. 
Shaw made a memorandum at 
the time of his burial. His 
grave is thirty yards in the rear 
of the Court House where the 
grave is neglected. 

On October 13, 1899, a monu- 
ment to Cornstalk with the sim- 
ple inscription 

"CORNSTALK" 
was erected in the Court House 
yard near Sixth Street. The 
monument is of grey limestone 
the stone for which was donated 
by Mr. S. H. Reynolds, then 
Superintendent of Construction 
at Kanawha Lock 11. The 
money for the completion of the 
monument was raistd by private 
subscription and the dedication 
of the monument was the occa- 
sion for a public ceremonial with 
a dedicatory address by Hon. C. 
E. Hogg, Mayor John E. Beller 
receiving the monument for the 
town. 

Forts Blair, Randolph and Point 
Pleasant. 

Govenor Dunmore under date 
of June 12, 1774, directed Gen'l. 
Andrew Lewis "to collect a body 
of men immediately; go down to 
the mouth of the Great Kanaway 
and THERE BUILD A FORT; 
and then if you have force 
enough to invade the Indian Coun- 
try, do so." 



83 



Before these orders could foe 
carried out the battle of Point 
Pleasant had ensued. The 
wounded of the army must he 
cared for, and sufficient of the 
army must remain to protect 
and care for them while the ma- 
jority marched on with Gen'l. 
Lewis to Camp Charlotte. 

So frail was the hastily impro- 
vised stockade that it was in- 
adequate to withstand an attack 
but fortunately Capt. Wm. Rus- 
sell and fifty Fincastle men were 
delegated by General Lewis to 
return to Point Pleasant and 
erect a fort. They arrived 
there November 11, 1774. 
Thus Captain Russell be 
came the designer and builder 
of this small rectangular pallis- 
ade, eighty yards long with block 
houses at two corners with cab- 
ins for barracks, which he call- 
ed Fort Blair. It was erected 
upon grounds on the North Bank 
of the Kanawha as it emptied in- 
to the Ohio. Here in January, 
1775, Cornstalk complying with 
the terms of the treaty at Camp 
Charlotte delivered a number of 
white prisoners. 

On June 5, 1775, Governor 
Dunmore reported that the gar- 
rison at Point Pleasant had 
been ordered discontinued, 
but the Virginia convention 
ordered that one hundred 
men should be hastened to Point 
Pleasant. Upon their arrival 
they found Fort Blair in ashes. 



By whom or when distroyed his- 
tory does not record. On May, 
16, 1776, Captain Matthew Ar- 
buckle passed through Wheel- 
ing enroute to Point Pleasant 
where upon the ruins of Fort 
Blair he erected Fort Ran- 
dolph. This fort was much 
larger than Fort Blair, called 
Fort Randolph in honor of Hon, 
Peyton Randolph of Virginia. 
It was from thence garrisoned 
at expense of the colony of Vir- 
ginia Captain Arbuckle con- 
tinuing in command until the 
close of 1777. He was succeed- 
ed in command by Capt. Wm. 
McKee of Rockbridge County. 
In 1778 several were killed by 
Indians while outside the fort 
at work, including Lieut. Moore. 
In 1779, for a week Indians be- 
sieged the fort but to no avail 
except that they captured all the 
cattle. In 1779 prior to July 12, 
Ft. Randolph was evacuated after 
which it was burned by Indians. 
Capt. Andrew Lewis visiting at 
Point Pleasant in 1784 reported. 
There was then but little or no 
sign of the fort to be seen. In 
1785 a third fort was built at 
Point Pleasant, on the Ohio Riv- 
er above the present First street. 
Commanded by Colonel Thomas 
Lewis and from that year on the 
white man has never ceased to 
reside at Point Pleasant. 



Participants of the Battle. 



No official roster having- been pi 
or State, the following list ha: 
availabe after years ol 

Albe, Jeremiah 
Adams, John 
Adkins, Parker 
Adkins, Wilton 
Atkins, Wm. 
Agnew, (Aggnue), John 
Alexander, James Ser. 
Allen, James 
Allen, Thomas 
Alley, Thomas 
Alden, Andrew 
Allen, Hugh Lieut. 
Allen, James 
Alliet (Elliot) Kobert 
Alsbury, Thomas 
Arbuckle, Capt. Matthew 
Anderson, James 
Anderson, Samuel 
Andrews, Samuel 
Arbuckle, John 
Ard, James. 
Arnold, James 
Arnold, Steven 
Armstrong, Geo. 
Armstrong Thos, 
Armstrong, Wm, 
Arthur, John 
Astle, Samuel 
Atkins, Blackburn 
Atkins, Charles 
Atkins, Henry 



iserved either by the Government 
been gleaned from the sources 
research by the writer 

Babbit, Ishmael 
Baker, Martin 
Barker, Samuel 
Baker, Thomas 
Baker, Markham 
Baker, Ensign Samuel 
Baily, John 
Bailey, Campbell 
Ball, James 
Baret, Edward 
Barton, Samuel 
Basel John 
Barkly, John 
Bambridge, James 
Barnes, — — — — - 
Barnett, James 
Barnett, S. L. 

Bates, 

Baugh, Jacob 
Boy Is tone, Wm. 
Bazel, John 

Bellew, Daniel (Canoe man) 
Bell, Thomas 
Bergman, Christian 
Berry, Francis 
Bishop, Levi 
Blackburn, Arthur 
Blackford, Joseph 
Blair, Daniel 
Blair Wm. 

Blankenship, Richard 



85 



Bledsoe, Abraham Lieut, 

Blesly, Jacob 

Blesly, John 

Bojard, Abraham 

Boh, Adam 

Boh, Jacob 

Boles, John 

Boniface, Wm. 

Borg, Francis 

Bough man, John 

Bough man, Jacobs 

Burney, Thomas 

Bowen, Moses 

Bo wen, Reese 

Bo en, Wm. 

Bowles, — Sergt 

Bo les, Kobt. 
Bowyer, Henry 
Boyd, James 
Boyd, Robert 
Bovlstone — 



Boyer, Henry 
Boyles, Barney 

Bracken, Matthews Ensign & 

Lieut 
Bradley, John 
Bradley, Wm. 
Brambradge, Jas. 
Bra instead, Andrew 
Breckinridge, Alexander 
Breden, John 
Breeze, Richard 
Breeze, Robt. 
Bradley, John 
Brooks Geo. 
Brooks, Thos. 
Brown, Chas. 
Brown, James 
Brown, Low 
Brown, Robt. 
Brown. Wm. 
Brown, Thos. 
Brumfield Humphrey 
Brum field, Solomon 
Brumley, Thos. 
Bry ans Shorgan 
Bryans, Wm. Sergt. 
Bryant, Wm. 

Buchanan (Commissariat) 
Buchanan Col. John 



Buchanan, Ensign Wm 
Buford, CoL Abraham 
Bunch, Joseph 
Buchnell, John 
Burch, Richard 
Burcks,Samuel 
Burk, Thos. 
Burk, John 
Burnes, Thos. 
Burnsides, James 
Burrens, James 
Burroughs John 
Burton, Litton 
Burtchfield, James 
Buch, Sergt. John 
Buch, Wm. 
Buster, David 
Butler, Joseph 
Butler, Shabrick 
Byrd, Richard 
Byrne, Chas 

Calloway. Dudley 
Cameron, Geo. 
Cameron, Hugh 
Campbell, Arthur Maj. 
Campbell, John Capt. 
Campbell, Robt. 
Campbell Joseph 
Campbell, Samuel 
Campbell, Wm. Capt. 
Canady, Thos. 
Caperton, Adam 
Caperton, Hugh 
Carlton, James 
Carmack, John 
Carney, Martin 
Carpenter, John 
Carpenter, Jeremiah 
Carpenter Solomon 
Carpenter, Thomas 
Carr, Geo. 
Carr, John 
Carr, Wm. 
Cartain, James 
Cartain, Joel 
Cartain. John 
Carter, John 
Carther, Edward 
Cary, Jeremiah 



86 



Casey, Wm. 

Cashady, Simon 

Cashaday, Thos. 

Catron, Adam 

Catron, Francis 

Catron, Jacob 

Catron, Michael 

Catron, Peter 

Catron, Philip 

Cats, Roger 

Cattes, John 

Cavenaugh, Charles 

Cavenangh, Philemon 

Cavenaugh, Philip 

Cavenaugh Wm. 

Cecil, Saul 

Champ, Wm. 

Chapline, Abraham 

Chapman, John 

Chapman, Richard 

Chesney, John 

Charlton James 

Christian, Col Wm. 

Clark, John 

Clark, James 

Clark, Samuel 

Clay, Mitchell 

Clay, Zekel 

Clay, David 

CJendinen Adam 

Clendinen, Alexander 

Clendinen Chas. 

Clendinen Geo. 

Clendinen, Robert 

Clendinen, Wm. 

Clerk, John 

Clifton, Wm. 

Clinding, Wm. 

Clinding, Geo. 

Cloyne Nicholas 

Cochran, Wm. 

Cocke, Capt. Wm. 

Coile, James 

Colier, John 

Coller, Moses Sergt. 

Collet, Thos. 

Collins, Richard 

Condon, David (canoe man) 

Conner, Patrick 

Conner, Wm. 



Constantine Patrick 
Cook, David 
Cook, Henry 
Cook, John 
Cook, Wm. 
Cooper, Abraham 
Cooper, Fiancis 
Cooper Leonard 
Cooper Nathiel 
Cooper, Spencer 
Cooper, Thomas 
Copley, Thos. 
Cornwell, Adam 
Corder, John 
Cormick, John 
Cornwell, Adam 
Cornwell, John 
Courtney, Chas. 
Courtney, John 
Cowan, Jared 
Cowan, John 

Coward 

Cox, Lieut, Gabriel 
Cox, Capt. John 
Coyl, James 
Crabtree, Wm. (scout) 
Craig, George 
Craig, John 
Craig Wm. Serg 
Crain, John 
Craven, Joseph Serg. 
Cravens, James 
Cravens, John 
Cravens, Robt. 
Crockett, Capt. Walter 
Crawford, Bonard 
Crawford, John Serg. 
Crawley, (Croley) James 
Creed, Matthew 
Crisman, Isaac 
Crockett, Joseph 
Croley, Samuel 
Crow, John Serg. 
Crow, Wm. 
Curwell, Alexander 
Cummins, Geo. 
Cundiff, Johnathan Ensign 
Cunningham James 
Cunningham John 
Current, Joseph 



87 



Curry, James. Capt. 
Custer, Wm. 
Cutlep, David 
Cutright, John 
Culwell Alexander 

Dale, James 

Davis Capt. Azariah 

Davis, Charles 

Davis, Geo. 

Davis, Robert (scout) 

Davis, Samuel 

Davise, Johnathen 

Day, Joseph 

Dav, Wm. 

Deal, Wm. 

Deek, John 

Demonse, Abraham 

Denistun, John 

Denton, John 

Dickinson, Col. John 

Dillon, Lieut. 

Ding-os. Peter 
Divey, John 
Doack, Robt. Capt. 
Doack, David 
Doack, Samuel 
Doack, Wm. Ensign 
Dobler, Jacob 
Dodd, John 
Dodd, James 
Dorherty, John 
Dorherty James 
Dollarhide Samuel 
Donaley, Serg, James 
Donaley, John (fifer) 
Donalson, Col. John 
Donalson, Robt. 
Donalson, Thos. 
Donley, Jacob 
Dooley, Thos. Lieut. 
Doran, Patrick 
Doss, Joel 

Daugherty, Geo. Serg. 
Daugherty, James 
Daugherty John 
Daugherty, Michael^ Serg. 
Douglas Geo. 
Douglas, James 
Downy, James Serg. 



Downy, John 
Drake, Joseph 
Drake, Ephriam 
Draper Lieut. John 
Dulin, James 
Duncan, John Serg. 
Dunkirk, John Serg. 
Dunlap, Robert 
Dunn, John 
Dunowho, James 
Duttsn, Philip 
Dyer. Wm. 

Eager, John 
Eastham, Wm. 
Eastham, Geo, 
Edgar, Thos. 

Edmiston (Edmondsonj Wm. 

Lieut. 
Edward, James 
Edwards, Johnathan 
Egnis, Edward 
Elkins, Jesse 
Ellenborough, Peter 
Elias, Thomas 
Elliott Capt. Robert 
Ellison, James 
Ellison, Charles 
Elswick. John 
English, Joseph 
English, Joshua 
English, Stephen 
Estill, Samuel 
Evans, Evan 
Evans, Andrew 
Ewing, Alexander 

Ewing, — - —Jr. 

Ewing, Robert 
Ewing Samuel 
Ewing, Wm. Serg. & Maj. 

Fain, John 
Fain, Samuel 
Fargison, Thos. 
Farley (Farlen) Francis 

Farley, John 

Farley (Farlor) Thomas 
Farmer, Nathan 
Feavil, Wm. 
Ferrill, Robt. 



88 



Ferrill, Wm. 
Field, Col. John 
Fields, Wm. 
Fielder, John Serg. 
Fielder, Wm. 

Fenquay, Isham(canoe man) 

Findlay, Geo. 

Findlay, John 

Fendlay, Robt. Serg. 

Fisher, Isaac 

Fitzhugh, John 

Fitspatrick, Timothy 

Fleming-, Col Wm. 

Flintham, John 

Fliping., Thos, 

Floyd, John 

Fourgeson,Thos. 

Fowler, Jas. (scout ) 

Fowler, Samuel 

Fowler, Wm. 

Franklin, James 

Franklin, Wm. 

Frazer, John 

Freeland, John 

Friel, Jeremiah 

Frogg, Lieut. John 

Fry, Geo. 

Fry, Geo. Jr, 

Fry, John 

Fullen, Chas. 

Fullen, James 

Fullen, Daniel 

Fuls, Geo. 

Gardner, Andrew 
Garrett, Wm. 
Gass, David (Messenger) 
Gatliff (Gatlepp) Squire 
Gibbs, Luman 
Gibson, Joseph 
Gilberts, Thos. 
Gillihan (Gilliland) John 
Gilkenson, Jas. 
Gill, Prisley 
Gillespy. Thos. 
Gillass, Wm. 
Giliman Duncan 
Gilmore, John 
Gilmore,Capt. Jas. 
Givens, Lieut. 



Glascum, David 

Glass, Serg. Samuel 

Glass Wm. 

Glaves, Michael 

Glenn, Davis 

Goff, Andrew 

Goldman, Lieut. Edward 

Goldsby 

Goodall, John 
Gordan, Moses 
Gorman, David 
Graham, Benj. 
Green, John 
Griffin, Robt. 
Grigger, Michael 
Grigger, Peter 
Grigs, John 
Grimp, John 

Grigsby 

Guffy, James 
Guillen, Edward James 
Gullion, Barney 
Gurden, Michael 

Hackett, Thos. 
Hackworth, Augustine 
Hackworth Wm 
Haines, Lewis 
Hale, Edward 
Hale, Thomas 
Hale, Wm 
Hall, James 
Hall, Thos. 
Hamilton, Francis 
Hamilton Isaiah 
Hamilton, Jacob 
Hamilton, Jas. 
Hamilton, John 
Hamilton Thos. 
Hammond, Philip 
Hamrick, Thos. 
Hamrick, Wm. 
Handley (Herrill) Robt. 
Handley (Hensley) Sam'l 
Hanee, Philip 
Hansburger, Adam 
Hanson Wm. 
Harlan Elijah 
Harlan, Silas 
Harmon, Dangerfield 



89 



Harmon, Geo. 
Harmon, Israel 
Harmon, John 
Harrel, Wm. (scout) 
Harriman, Skid Serg. 
Harris Griffin 
Harris, John 
Harris, Stephen 
Harrison, Andrew 
Harrison, Benj. Capt. 
Harrison, John Lieut. 
Harrod, James Capt. 
Hart, Thos. 
Hasket, Thos. 
Hatfield Andrew 
Havens, John 
Havens James 
Hayes, John 
Haynes, Benj. 
Haynes, Capt. Joseph 
Hays, Chas. 
Henly, Geo. 
Henly, Wm. 

Hensley (Hadley) Sam'l 
Herbert Wm. Capt. 
Herd Richard 
Herrill, Robt. 
Henderson Saml 
Hendrix, Peter 
Henderson, Lieut. John 
Henderson Daniel 
Henderson, Alexander 
Hays, Samuel (scout) 
Head, Anthony (Messenger) 
Hedden, Thos. 
Hedrick, Peter 

Hepenstahl (Hempinstall) Abra- 
ham 

Hckman 

Higgans (Higans) Peter 
Higgans, Philemion 

Hill, Capt. 

Hill James 
Hill, Robert 
Hobbs, Vincent 
Hogan, Henry 
Hogan, Wm. 
Holley, Wm. 

Hollway (Holloway) Richard 
Holston, Stephen 



Hoi well, Walter 

Homes, Lewis 

Hooper, Wm. 

Hopton, Stephen 

flop ton, Wm. 

Horne, Joseph 

Howard, Charles 

Howard, Henry 

Hutchinson, Lewis 

Huchisen (Hutchinson) Wm. 

Huff. Leonard 

Huff, Peter 

Huff. Samuel 

Huff, Thomas 

Hughes, -Davy 

Hughes, Ellis 

Hughey, Joseph 

Humphries, John 

Hundley, John 

Hunter, Robert 

Hutson, John 

Hynes. Frances 

Ingles, Wm. Major(Commissary) 

Inglis, Joshua 

Inglis, Thos. 

Inglish (English) Joseph 

Irvine, John 

Inglish (English) Joshua 
Isum, Wm. 

Jackson, Yerty 
Jameson, John 
Jenkins, Jeremiah 
Jennings, Edmond 
Jewitt, Matthew 
Johns, Wm. 
Johnson Capt. Arthur 
Johnston, John 
Johnston, Patrick 
Jones, Benj. 
Jones, John 
Jones, Thos. 
Jones, Wm. 

Kasheday, Peter 
Keeneson, Charles 
Keith, Samuel 
Kelley, Alexander 
Kelsey, John 
Kendrick, James 



90 



John Serg. 



Kennedy, Ezekiel 
Kennedy, Thomas 
Kennedy, Wm. Serg-. 
Kenneson, Chas. 
Kenneson, Edward 
Kennot, Zacariah 
Kerr, James 
Kerr. Wm 
Kinder, George 
Kinder, Jacob. 
Kinder, Peter 
King, James 
King-, John 
King-, Wm. 

Kincaid (King-keid) David 
Kincaid " " Jr 

Kincaid 4,1 Geo. 
Kincaid " James 
Kincaid 
Kinsor, Chas. 
Kinsor Michael 
Kinsor, Jacob 
Kinsor, Walter 
Kishoner, Andrew Jr. 
Kishoner, Andrew Sr. 
Kissinger, Andrew 
Kissinger, Matthew 
Knox, James 

Lammey, Andrew 

Lapsley, John 

Larkeu, John Serg-. 

Lashly, John 

Laughlin. James 

Lawrence. Henry 

Lee, Sefinah 

Learned (Lord) Lieut. 

Lee, Zacarias 

Lemaster, Richard 

Lesley Wm. 

Lesley, John 

Lesley, Wm. Adj. 

Lester, Samuel 

Lester, John 

Lewis, Andrew Gen. 

Lewis. Benjamin 

Lewis, Chas. Col. 

Lewis, John Capt. of Augusta 

Lewis. John Capt. of Botetourt 

Lewis, John Private 



Lewis, Samuel 

Lin, Adam 

Librougb, Henry 

Litton, Burton 

Litton, Solomon 

Litz, Wm. 

Lockhart, Jacob 

Lockhart, Queavy 

Lockridge, Andrew Capt. 

Logan, Benj. 

Logan, John 

Logan, Hugh 

Logan, James 

Long, Joseph Ensign 

Lord (Leord) Lieut 

Love, Joseph 

Love, Philip Capt. 

Luallen, Thos. 

Lucas, Chas. 

Lucas, Chas. Jr. 

Lucas, Henry. 

Lucas, John 

Lucas, Wm. 

Luney. Michael 

Ly brook (Librough) Henry 

Ly brook Palser 

Lyman, Richard 

Lyle, John 

Lyn, James * 

Lynch, 

Lyons, Wm. 

McAllister, Wm. 
McBride, James 
McBride, Joseph 
McCallister, James 
McCallister Wm. 
McCandless, John 
McCartney, John 
McCastem, Wm. 
McCarty, James 
McClanahan, Absalom 
McClanahan, Alexander, Capt. 
McClanaham, John, (Canoeman) 
McClanahan, Robt. Capt. 
McAfee, Geo. 
McAfee, James 
McAfee, Robt. 
McAfee, Samuel 
McAfee, Wm. 



91 



McCJintic, Win, 
McClure, John 
McClure, Thomas 
McCorkle, Wm. 
McCoy, Win. Lieut 
McCune, Wm. 
McCutchen, Wm. 
McDonald, Daniel 
McDonald, James 
McDowell. Archibald 
McDowell, M. Capt. 
McDowell, Samuel Capt. 
McElhanev, Francis 
McFarland, Wm. 
McFarland, Robt. 
McGee, John 
McGeehey, Samuel 
McGinness, John 
McGlahlen, John 
McGuff, John 
McGuff, Patrick 
McKee, Wm. Capt. 
McKiunett. Alex 
McKinney, John 
McKinsey, Hensley 
McKinsey, Moredock 
McLaughlin, Edward 
McMullin, John 
McMullen, Wm. 
McNiel, Peter 
McNeal (Niel) John 
McNiell, Daniel Lieut 
McNutt, James 
McNutt, Alexander 
Madison, John 

Monad ue, Henry 
Mann, John 
Mann, Wm. 
Marks, John 
Martin, Brice 
Martin, Christian 
Martin, Geo. Sr. 
Martin, Geo. Jr. 
Martin, Philip 
Martin, Wm Col. 
Matthew Capt. Geo. 
Matthew, Sampson 
Maxwell, Bezaleel 
Maxwell, David 



Maxwell, John 

Maxwell, Thomas 

Mayse, Joseph 

Mead, Nicholas 

Mead, Thos. 

Meader, Israel 

Mecrary, Thomas 

Meek, Wm. 

Messersnuth, Barnctt 

Messersnuth, John 

Micalister, Wm 

Milican, John 

Miller, James 

Miller, Robert 

Mills, John 

Mil wood, Geo. 

Miner, Henry 

Mitchell, James Capt. 

Mitchell, James 

Mitchell, Thos. 

Moffat (Manford) Robt. Capt. 

Moffat, George Capt. 

Montgomery, Jas. Capt. 

Montgomery, Samuel 

Moody, John 

Moon, Abraham 

Moor, Moses 

Moor, Frederick 

Moor, Wm. 

Moor, John 

Moor, Hugh 

Mooney, Nicholas 

Mooney, Frederick 

Mooney, Hendly Ensign 

Mooney, Hugh 

Mooney, James 

Mooney, John 

Mooney, Moses 

Mooney, Samuel 

Mooney, Wm. 

Morris, Wm. 

Morrow, James 

Morrow, James Jr. 

Mullin, Thos. 

Mungle (Mongle) Daniel 

Mungle " Frederick 

Murry, John Capt. 

Murry, James 

Myers, Wm. 

Mercer, Hugh 



92 



Nail, Dennis 
Nail, Thomas 
Nalle, Martin Lieut 
Nail, Thomas 
Naul (Now!) Wm. Capt. 
Nave, Conrad 
Neal Wm. 
Neaville, John 
Neaville, Joseph 
Neely James (Cadet) 
Neelv, Wm. 
Neil, John 
Nelson, John 
Newberry, Joseph 
Newell, James 
Newland, Abraham 
Newland, Isaac 
Newland, John 
Newman, Walter 
Nicholas, John 
Nickels, Isaac 
Nowell, John 
Noland, John 
Null, Jacob 
Null, John 

Odear, James 
Oguillen, Barnett 
Oguillen, Duncan 
Oguillen, John 
Oguillen, Hugh 
O'Haara, Chas. Capt. 
O'Haara, Robt. 
O'Haara, Wm. 
Oharron, Henry 
Olverson, Joseph 
Ormsbey, Daniel 
Overstreet, Wm. 
Ower, Thomas 
Owen, Robt. 
Owens, David 
Owler, Henry 
Owler, John 

Pack, George 
Pack, Samuel 
Packwood, Richard 
Pain, Joseph 
Parchment. Peter 
Parsons, James 



Pate Jeremiah 
Patten, John 
Pauling, Henry Capt. 
Paulley, James 
Paulley, John 
Pawlings, Moses 
Paxton, Samuel 
Peary, Thomas 
Pence, Jacob Ensign 
Perce, Thomas 
Peregin, Molastin 
Persinger, Jacob 
Pettv, Benjamin 
Peyton, John 
Peyton, Rowzie 
Pharis, Wm. 
Pierce, Lieut 
Pierce, John 
Plunkenpel, Zacarias 
Poage, Wm. Serg. 
Poling, Mathew 
Portor, Robt. 

Posey, Thos. (Commissary) 

Potter, Thos. 

Preston, Wm. 

Price, James 

Price, Reese 

Price, Rickard 

Price, Thomas 

Price, Wm. 

Pricket (Pucket) Drury 
Priest, David 
Priest, Samuel 
Priest, Wm. 
Pright, John 
Prince, W r m. 
Prior (Pryor) John- 
Ranis, Robert 
Ramsey, Josiah 
Rains, Robt. 
Rapp, Frederick 
Rat cliff, Wm. 
Ratcliff, Matthew 
Razor, Michael ' 
Ray, Wm. 
Ravenscroft, Thos. 
Read, John Ensign 
Reagh, Archibald 
Reagh, John 



93 



Reary, James 
Reburn, John 
Rediford, Benj. 
Reed, Alexander 
Reese, Andrew 
Reid, Andrew 
Reid, Thos. 
Reynolds, John 
Richardson, Benj. 
Richardson, Wm. 
Riley, John 
Roay, Joseph 
Roberts, John 
Robinson, Elijah 
Robertson, Jas. Capt. 
Robertson, Wm. Lieut 
Robinson, Hugh 
Robinson, John 
Robertson, James 
Robertson, Thos. Major 
Robertson, Wm. 
Robison, Jas. Lieut. 
Robison, Julius 
Robison, Wm. 
Robison, Isaac 
Roay, Joseph 

Roe, Capt. 

Rogers (Rodgers) Andrew 
Roger, " Chesley 
Rogers, " David 
Rogers, *' James 
Rogers, Thos. 
Rogers, " Wm c 
Rollens, Richard 
Ross, Edward 
Ross. Tavener 
Rowan, Francis 
Rucker, Geo. 
Ruddle, (Riddle) Geo. 
Rue, Abraham 
Russell, Wm. Gen. 
Rutheford, Benj. 

Samples, Samuel 
Sanders, James 
Sappington, Daniel 
Salsbury, Wm. 
Savage, John 
Savage, Samuel 
Sawyers, John Col. 



Say res, John 
Scails, Wm. 

Scard,- -Lieut, 

Scarbara, James 
Scott, Archelaus 
Scott, Archibald 
Scott, Daniel Capt. 
Scott Geo. 
Scott, James 
Scott, Wm. 
See, Michael 
Sedbery, John 
Seed, Francis 
Selby, James 
Sevier, John Gen. 
Sevier, Valentine 
Shain, John 
Shannon, John 
Shannon, Samuel 
Sharp, Abraham 
Sharp> John (Scout) 
Sharp, Edward 
Shaw, Henry 
Shelby, Evan Capt. 
Shelby, Isaac Lieut. 
Shelby, James 
Shelby, Wm. Capt. 
Shell, Arnold 
Shelp, John 
Shillin, John 
Shoatt, Emanuel 
Simpkins, Daniel 
Simpkins, James 
Simms, Chas. 
Sim merman, Geo. 
Simpson, James 
Simpson, John 
Simpson, Wm. 
Skaggs, Reuben 
Skaggs, Zach 
Skidmore, John Capt. 

Slaughter, ■ — Capt. 

Slaughter, Francis Col. 
Slaughter, Geo. Col. 
Slaughter, Lawrence 
Smith, Bruten 
Smith, David 
Smith, Daniel Capt. 
Smith, Edward 
Smith, Ericus 



94 



Smith, James 
Smith, John 
Smith, Mecag-h 
Smith, Moses 
Smith. Fobt. 
Smith, Wm, 
Smit.hers, Gabriel 
Sobe, Geo. 
Spicer, Wm. 
Spratt, Isaac Serg. 
Squires, Uriah 
Staff v, Michael 
Stailey, Martin 
Steele. Andrew 
Steele, John 
Stephens, John Lieut 
Stephens, Thomas 
Stephens, Wm, 
Stephens,' Stephen 
Stephenson. Hugh Capt, 
Stephenson, Fobt. 
Sterns, Conrad 

Stevens, 

Steward, John 
Steward, Walter 
Stewart, John 
Stewart, Wm. 
Stewart, John Capt. 
Stull. Martin 
Stump, Michael 
Sullivan, James 
Sullivan, Sam'l 
Summers, Charles 
Swoop, John 

Tate, T. Lieut. 
Tate, Wm. 

Tarnev (Farnev) Peter 

Taylor, -Capt. 

Taylor, Daniel 
Taylor, Isaac 
Tavlor, Sieltor 
Taylor, Wm. 
Teasy, Wm. 

Terrence (Torrence) Andrw 
Thomas, Edward 
Thompson, Andrew Ensign 
Thompson, Fichard 
Thompson, Fobert 
Thompson. Wm. 



Tipton, John 
Todd, James 
Todd, John 

Trent, (Canoe Master.) 

Trent, Obediah 
Trimble, Isaac 
Trimble, James 
Trotter, John 
Trotter. Richard 
Tucker. Wm. 
Tyler, Isaac 

Vails, John 
Vallendingham, Geo. 
VanBibber, Isaac 
YanBibber, Jesse 
VanBibber, John 
VanBibber. Peter 
VanBibber, Mathias 
Vance, Edward 
Vance, Samuel Lieut. 
Vanhook. Samuel 
Vaut (Vaught) Andrew 
Vaut " Christian 
Vaut " Geo. 
Venable, Wm. 
Vaughan (Vaun) John 
Vanhook, Samuel 

Waggoner, Andrew 
Waggoner, Henry 
Waggoner, Henry Jr. 
Walker, Adam 
Walker, Henry 
Walker, James 
Wallace, Adam Ensign 
Wallace, Andrew 
Wallace, David 
Wallace Fobt. 
Wallace, Samuel Lieut. 
W T alter, Michael 
Wambler, Geo. 
Wambler, Mitchell 
Ward, David Ensign 
W T ard, James Capt. 
Ward, Wm. Serg. 
W T arwick, Jacob 
Washburn, James 
Washburn, Steven 
Watkins, Robt. 



95 



Watson, Johnathan 

Waugh -Cadet 

Weaver, Christian 
Weaver, Michael 
Welch, James 
Welch, John 
Welch, Thomas 
Welch, Thomas Jr. 
Wells, Bazaleel 
Wells, Samuel 
Welsh, Christopher 
Whish, Richard 
Wetzel, John 
Wetzel, Martin 
Whitley, Moses 
White,"David 
White, Joseph 
White. Solomon 
White, Wm. 
Whitticor, Joseph 
Whitton, Jerremiah 
Whitton, Thomas 
Whitton, Thomas Jr. 
Wiley James 
Wiles, Robert 
Wiley, Robert Jr. 
Wiley, Thomas 
Williams, Alden 
Williams, David 
Williams, Isaac. 
Williams, James 
Williams, Jarrett 
Williams, John 
Williams, Mack 
Williams, Philip 
Williams, Richard 
Williams, Rowland 
Williams Samuel 
Williams, Thomas Serg. 
Williamson, Aldin 
Williamson, David 
Willis, Henry, 
Wilmoth, Wm. 
Wilson, Benj. 
Wilson, Edwaad 
Wilson, James 
Wilson, John Capt. 
Wilson, George 
Wilson, Thomas 
Wilson, Wm. Serg. 



Wilson, Samuel Capt. 
Wood, John 
Wood, Adam 
Wood, Andrew 
Wood, Archibald 
Wood, James Serg. 
Wood, Jos. Capt. 
Wood, Michael Capt 
Wood, Richard 
Woolsey, Richard 
Workman, Daniel 
Woodburn, Steven 
Wood burn, 'James 

Young, John 

History of the Monument Building 

In our research for informa- 
tion relative to efforts being 
made to erect a battle monument' 
at Point Pleasant, the earliest 
record of which we have an ac- 
count is a letter yet preserved, 
written by Hon. J. M. H. Beale, 
who, in 1848, represented that 
district of which Mason County, 
Virginia, was a part, in the lower 
branch of Congress, in which he 
says "I have introduced a bill 
in Congress asking for $50,000 
with which to erect a monument 
to commemorate the Battle of 
Point Pleasant." As nothing 
came of it, it died in a commitee 
room. 

That amount of money in pur- 
chasing power, equal in value to 
twice that amount of money at 
the present time, only demon- 
strated the magnitude in which 
the battle was held when not so 
many years had intervened since 
that terrible struggle. 

We find by reference to an old 
minute book preserved by Mrs* 



96 



John Daniel McCullocb, that a 
monument committee had been 
organized in the year 1860. The 
exact date of organization is not 
given. The first meeting record- 
ed is as follows: 

" Monument Association Rooms 
Sep. 17, 1860. 
The Regent being absent, 
Mrs. James Hutchinson, Vice 
Regent, called the association to 
order. 

On motion the minutes of the 
last meeting was suspended." 

"The committee on By Laws 
reported series of laws by Mrs. 
Wm. Smith, Chair lady, & under 
discussion said By laws were 
adopted, & on motion the com- 
mittee was discharged." 

"On mot on a permanent com- 
mitee composed of Mrs. Charles 
Lewis, Mrs. Barlow, Miss Sallie 
Henderson, Miss Kimberling, 
Miss Till Stribling, Miss Sue 
Waggoner to collect historical 
facts connected with the battle 
of Point Pleasant. 

"On motion of Mrs. Smith, it 
is resolved this association will 
celebrate the anniversary of the 
battle, 10th of October. 

"On motion it is resolved com- 
mittee be appointed to see what 
will be contributed for a supper. 

"On motion a committee com- 
posed of Sallie Lewis, Fannie, 
for the Flats, Miss Patrick, Sehon 
for Mason City, Miss Stribling 
& Hall, upper part of town, Miss 
Jones & Miss Murdock lower 



end, Sallie Henderson and E. 
Smith, South Side Kanawha, 
Ginnie Neale & Maria Meuager, 
Mercer Bottom. 

"On motion it is resolved a 
committee of two be appointed 
to wait on Col. Beale, & see if 
we can procure the Hall. 

Signed, E. Smith 
Recording Secretary 
M. T. Lewis Regent 

Nov. 14-1860" 

There is left no written record 
of that supper given at Beal's 
Hall, but there are many living 
here yet who recall it as one of 
the greatest social events of the 
town up until that time, as there 
was gathered here all of the elite 
of the county. The money 
raised at that time by the supper 
was about $200.00, 'which was 
supplemented by $800,00 more 
in subscriptions, Mrs. John S. 
Lewis (Mrs. Mary T. Lewis) 
the Regent riding horseback 
over the county soliciting funds, 

The society applied for a char- 
ter which was granted under 
the laws of the State of Virginia. 
The money was loaned to Mr. 
Peter Steenbergen Lewis, a 
descendant of Col. Charles Lewis 
killed in the battle, and was 
faithfully- accounted for and in- 
terest paid until turned over to 
the Point Pleasant Battle Monu- 
ment commission provided for 
in 1901, by the State of West 
Virginia. 

The only two surviving char- 




POINT PLEASANT BATTLE MONUMENT, COMMEMOR- 
ATING THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION, 
OCTOBER 10, 1774, 



97 



ter members of the original 
monument association are Miss 
Elizabeth Smith, of McCausland, 
and Mrs. J. D. McCulloch (Miss 
Sallie Lewis) of Point Pleasant. 

We find in the above mentioned 
record book the following- entry: 

"Monument Association Room. 
Nov. 14, 1860. 

The Regent having called the 
meeting to order on motion of 
E. Smith, the historical com- 
mittee is requested to wait upon, 
or otherwise communicate with 
all the 'early settlers of the coun- 
ty, that is practicable, to obtain 
all the information they can in 
regard to the battle of the Point, 
and all other interesting events 
of the early Indian times. 

On motion it is resolved, the 
monument be placed on the spot 
where the brave men who fell in 
the battle have so long lain un- 
honored, by vote was unanimous- 
ly carried — affirmative Nannie 
Smith, Kate Murdock, Sallie 
Lewis, Sallie Henderson, M. J. 
Stribling, Ginnie Neale, Rose 
Barlow, Fannie Lewis, Eliza 
Waggoner, E. Smith — Negative. 

"On motion it is resolved a fine 
of five cents be imposed on those 
who are not present by half after 
two o'clock, P. M. 

"On motion it is resolved that 
this meeting adjourn to meet 
the first Wednesday in January." 

it is well that the names of 
these patriotic women have been 
preserved to history, many of 



whom were descendants of par- 
ticipants in the battle. Sallie 
Lewis (Mrs. J. D. McCulloch) . 
descended from Col. C h a r 1 e s 
Lewis; Sallie Henderson, the late 
Mrs. Jos. George, of Five Mile, 
descended from Samuel Hender- 
son; Misses Sue and Eliza Wag- 
goner descended from Gen. An- 
drew Lewis; Mrs. Charles Lewis 
was the mother of Mr. P. S. 
Lewis, a descendant to whom 
the first funds were entrusted; 
Mrs. Kimberling was the wife 
of Elijah Kimberling, for many 
years clerk of the county court; 
Fannie Lewis, wife of Judge 
John W. English, descended 
from Col. Charles Lewis, as did 
Miss Lizzie Sehon, of Mason City; 
Miss Hall was the late Mrs. B. J; 
Redmond, daughter of Hon. 
John Hall; Miss Jones is Mrs. 
J. W. Bryan; Maria Menger be- 
came the wife of Rev. George 
Lyle; Miss Till Stribling became ' 
the wife of Mr. Chap. Waggoner 
of Pleasant Flats: Mrs. Rose 
Barlow was the wife of a resi- 
dent physican; Miss Kate 
(Beale) Murdock was the second, 
wife of the late Col. C. B. Wag- 
goner, Ginnie Neale now Mrs. 
Otis Stribling. 

The Civil War freaking out, 
the efforts to erect a monument 
were put aside for the stirring 
incidents then agitating the 
minds of the people and no efforts 
were again made until the 100th 
anniversary of the Battle, 1874, 



98 



when the proper celebration of 
the battle was taken up by 
Messrs. John Q. Dickerson, 
John D. Lewis, C. C. Lewis, Wm. 
Dickenson, of Charleston, P. S. 
Lewis, J. P. R. B. Smith, Judge 
John W. English, of Point Pleas- 
ant. These largely financed the 
celebration assisted by other of 
the most patriotic citizens of 
Point Pleasant and an effort was 
made to gather together as many 
as possible of the descendents 
of the Lewis's of that battle. 
In fact so little attention was 
paid by other descendants and 
so highly had the Lewis's honor- 
ed the services of their sires 
that the proposed monument 
was spoken, of as the "Lewis 
Monument" and, for years, the 
writter, who was present at that 
celebration, scarcely knew there 
were other heroes participating 
worthy of being published in the 
school histories, there being no 
available books to be read and no 
one mentioned by word of mouth 
but the Lewis's. 

All honor, however, to this 
family who honor their heroic 
dead. It was the most splendid 
palm they could place upon the 
brow of their ancestors to teach 
the world as they have done their 
descendants to revere the names 
of Andrew and Charles Lewis. 

The first published agitation 
for the proper observance of the 
100th anniversary of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant, we find in the 



Charleston Courier, reproduced 
in the Weekly Register of March 
19, 1874, which we quote in part: 
"It was at this place that oc- 
curred one of the bloodiest and 
severest battles in which the 
whites and Indians have ever en- 
gaged. On the morning of the 
10th of October, 1774, an army 
composed almost entirely of Vir- 
ginians, under the command of 
General Andrew Lewis, and 
numbering about eleven hundred 
men, was attacked by a largely 
superior force of savages under 
the command of the famous 
chieftain Cornstalk. The battle 
raged furiously the entire day, 
and ended in the defeat of the 
Indians, who throughout the bat- 
tle, are said to have displayed 
the most determined bravery. 
The Virginia army sustained in 
this engagement a loss of seven- 
ty-five killed and one hundred 
and forty wounded." 

"Among the slain were Colonels 
Charles Lewis and John Field 
and eight subordinate officers, 
all of whom were of the best 
families of Virginia." 

"The loss of the savages was 
never ascertained, as it was their 
custom to bear off and secrete 
their dead. Some twenty or 
more bodies, however, were 
found on the field, which the In- 
dians had been unable to carry 
away." 

"The wounded whites were 



99 



placed within entrenchments, 
thrown up at the point of the 
confluence of the Kanawha and 
Ohio rivers, and a garrison left 
there to protect them, the dead 
were buried immediately outside 
of the entrenchments, though 
in a scattered manner. General 
Lewis then pursued his march 
northward." 

"Finding our selves at Point 
Pleasant with considerable lei- 
sure and time, we proposed to an 
old friend and resident of the 
"Point" to take us to the graves 
of the heroes of the battle of 
Point Pleasant. With a willing- 
ness to oblige which is a promi- 
nent characteristic of that gen- 
tleman, he readily assented, and 
in a few moments we found our- 
selves close to the junction of the 
two rivers, standing on tip-toe 
looking over a high bank on 
which we were standing com- 
pleting the bounds. A few in- 
dentations or depression were 
all that indicated that within that 
small enclosure were buried 
some fifty or sixty heroes of the 
times that tried men's souls. 
The place was strewn with filth 
and refuse and seemed to be a 
general depository for the rub- 
bish of the neighborhood. With 
a feeling of disgust at the cold 
neglect so plainly manifested by 
the authorities, not only of the 
governments of the States of 
Virginia and West Virginia, but 
of the county and city wherein 



rest these dead, we turned 
away." 

The writer who signs himself 
"Virginiout," relating an inter- 
view with Mr. Andrew Darst, 
residing upon the extreme point 
where the rivers meet, who not 
only exhibited a grind stone, 
cannon ball, and shovel, taken 
from an old well that had been 
within the fort, but he exhibited 
the site of the old magazine long 
since gone over the bank, and the 
site of the cottage wherein Corn- 
stalk was murdered. 

Quoting further from article 
of date above given, Mr. Darst 
said in that published interview : 
"About 1832 thar came by 
here an old man who had been 
here in Injin times. Some folks 
were wondering whar Cornstalk 
had been buried. The old man 
said he knowed, and if they'd 
follow him he'd show 'em. So 
he took 'era out to a ditch just 
back of that drug store you see 
there, (2nd and Viand Streets) 
told them to dig in at a certain 
place and they'd find Cornstalk 
about four feet under ground. 
They dug in there and sure 
enough they found him. They 
then took him up and buried him 
in the Court House yard." 

"The spot of land here on the 
point was once a big Injin grave 
yard, and if you will take the 
trouble to look over the bank 
where it has been washed you'll 
find bones a plenty. All of 'em's 



100 



across beads and trinkets among 
the bones." 

Acting- on the suggestion we 
took a look over the bank and 
discovered many fragments of 
bones which were lying- loosely 
on the soil or projecting from 
the face of the bank. After 
sauntering around a few mo- 
ments longer we bade "Andy" 
farewell and walked off to take 
a look at the town." 

"The heroes of Bunker Hill 
have their monument to com- 
memorate their deeds, but the 
brave little band sleeping so si- 
lently on the bank of the Kana- 
wha, have nothing but an old de- 
cayed, worm eaten fence to mark 
their graves. Point Pleasant 
and Bunker Hill, were each 
fought in the same cause, and 
those acquainted with the history 
of "Dunmore's war' will not 
contradict the assertion that the 
battle of "Point Pleasant," was 
really the first battle of the Rev- 
olution." 

The Weekly Register of May 
17, 1874, editorially comments 
on the importance of the battle 
of Point Pleasant and quotes 
again from the Charleston Cou- 
rier, as follows: 

"Is there any event connected 
_with our past history which so 
closely affects the people of the 
Valley as the battle of Point 
Pleasant, where V i r g i n i a n s 
bared their breast to protect it 
from invasions? While Eastern 



Virginia had her Yorktown, 
West Augusta had already pur- 
chased a victory at Point Pleas- 
ant. To no event transpiring 
within the limits of our State has 
ever attached the importance and 
grateful recollections as has to 
the Point Pleasant battle. It is 
well suggested - then that the 
people all along our Valley take 
some steps to celebrate the one 
hundredth anniversary of this 
event at Point Pleasant in Octo- 
ber next. Our neighbors in 
Mason will readily adopt the 
suggestion, as well as all other 
counties that feel an interest in 
preserving afresh both the mem- 
ory of the gallant dead and their 
resting places." 

"For many reasons the Mason 
county people should take the 
lead in this matter, and we feel 
confident they will. Let every 
community then from the Ohio 
to the Greenbrier, fall into line 
and adopt some harmonious ac- 
tion to fitly celebrate the day, 
and to raise suitable funds to re- 
move the disgrace of the neglect- 
ed graves. There is not a super- 
abundance of time, and we pre- 
dict a prompt response from 
Mason. Who will take the ini- 
tiatory for a grand celebration 
of this event, which if of all 
others the one great shrine 
which every creed, every politi- 
cal faith and every class in the 
State can pay their homage." 

*'A correspondent from Mason 



101 



County to the Charleston Courier 
contributed the following: 

"There is considerable talk 
just as this time about our cen- 
tennial anniversary, and a good 
deal of patriotic feeling is being 
exhibited in that direction. His- 
tory records that on the morning 
of the 10th of October, 1774, 
there was fought at this Point 
one of the severest and most hot- 
ly contested and bloody battles 
between the whites under Gen- 
eral Lewis and the Indians un- 
der command of the great war- 
rior, Cornstalk, that ever took 
place in the early times of this 
country. It is in fact, claimed 
that this was the first battle of 
the Revolution, and for freedom 
from the British yoke. On the 
10th of October, 1874, one hun- 
dred years will have elapsed 
since that memorable battle, in 
which the troops under Gen. 
Lewis achieved such a triumph." 

On Tuesday, May 26th, the 
Directors of the Second Annual 
Mason County Fair decided to 
hold their Fair on October 6th, 
7th, 8th, and 9th, but no mention 
is made of the observance of the 
10th, the anniversary of the Bat- 
tle. Plans, however, were going 
forward from Charleston, as the 
Charleston Courier, in its last is- 
sue of May 18, 1774, gives the 
following: 

"The idea of the Centennial 
celebration at Point Pleasant is 



a very happy one. It is an event 
in which every true West Vir- 
ginian should take pride. Our 
state embraces a large boundary 
of territory of "West Augusta," 
whose sons rendered themselves 
so famous in the days that "tried 
men's souls," and to whom the 
great Washington looked for 
raliance when all others should 
fail him," 

"Many descendants of the par- 
ticipants in the famous Indian 
battle at the Point, are now liv- 
ing in this State. In the coun- 
ties of the Greenbrier Valley as 
well as in the Kanawha Valley 
are living those who bear the 
name and through whose veins 
run the blood of the Captain of 
the Virginia forces, Andrew 
Lewis, as well as those who de- 
scended from the brave men 
that followed him in that remark- 
able campaign. The result of 
the battle at the Point saved all 
the Virginia frontier from the 
invasion of the Indians. If Corn- 
stalk had been successful who 
can imagine the fearful desola- 
tion that would have been 
wrought from the Ohio to the 
Alleghanies." 

''Is it not a little remarkable 
that while this battle should have 
become so famous in history, that 
so little should be known of the 
particulars of the fight? While 
history is silent, we have tradi- 
tions that should be gathered, 
and the most authentic ones be 



* 



102 



placed in some shape as to be re- 
liably transmitted to posterity. 
There are many households of 
West Virginia, where stories of 
grand father's experience in the 
battle of the "Pint" are related 
to day, and many of them told 
by those who have heard the 
relation from the lips of the vet- 
erans himself. What a pleasant 
task then for some one to collect 
these traditions and weave his- 
tory from them." 

5jc 3^ 5fC 5fl 

"Just as the battle of Point 
Pleasant was the prelude to the 
war of Independence, so let the 
celebration at the Point in 1874 
be the prelude to the grand af- 
fair to come off at Philadelphia 
in 1876, and let every West Vir- 
ginian, and every Old Virginian, 
and every one who sees proper 
to join us, take part in the jubi- 
lee on the 10th of October next." 

To further stimulate the inter- 
est in the Battle Celebration, the 
Register, on June 25th, copied 
from Nile's Reg-ister, uf May 3, 
1817, an account of the battle and 
in the issue of August 27, 1874, 
the Register copied De Hass' 
History and Indian Wars in West 
Virginia, the account in full of 
the battle of Point Pleasant. 
The Register of October 8, has 
failed up until that time to give 
any program or details of the 
celebration, but, in speaking of 
the Fair then in session, says: 
"The Fair will close on Friday 



evening with a grand ball at 
Beale's Hall. On Saturday the 
Centennial Celebration will come 
of. 

The issue of the Weekly Reg 
ister of October 15, 1874, gives 
the following detailed account of 
the Celebration; written Oct. 
10th, 1874. 

"The Centenniel celebration of 
the Battle of Point Pleasant is 
now over. Just one hundred 
years ago to-night, brave men 
and true were mourningover the 
dead, and ministering as best 
they could to the wounded and 
dying. Let us as best we can, 
look back upou the dav that has 
just been closed by the setting 
sun of the 10th day of October, 
1874, and tell our readers what 
has been done. Many an eye 
looked out anxiously this morn- 
ing to see what was to be the 
prospect for a beautiful day. 
For one I was sadly disappointed 
and feared that the Heavens 
would soon be sending down the 
rain. 

"How anxiously we watched 
every appearance indicating like 
a breaking away of the lowering 
clouds. Soon after an early 
breakfast, the clouds began to 
look thin, and then spot after 
spot of blue sky was seen. 
Anxiously did the eager gather- 
ing crowd, look for the promised 
published programme. About 
9 o'clock A. M., the Register of- 
fice sent out the first, which were 



103 



eagerly seized by the hungry 
crowd; then another and another 
handful of programmes were 
distributed, so that before the 
hour of 10 A. M., all seemed to 
b£ posted as to what was to be 
done. About 10 o'clock the Com- 
pany of Cadets from the Univer- 
sity o!: West Virginia, at Mor- 
ijantown, were formed in line by 
their Captain, H. H. Pierce, in 
front of the Kline House, near 
the wharf-boat, on the Ohio, and 
waited to receive the Knights of 
Pythias, from Gallipolis, Ohio, 
accompanied by the Gallipolis 
Brass Band. Soon the Knights 
came marching up, splendidly 
dressed, and a fine looking body 
of men they were, passing in 
front of the Cadets, they halted 
on Main Street. The Cadets, 
moved in column of fours up to 
Main Street, then wheeling to 
the left, were halted opposite the 
Court House — the site of which 
is supposed to have been on the 
line of battle as it was formed, 
just one hundred years ago to- 
day. Here let us give the pro 
gramme as follows: 

Centennial Celebration 
of the 

Battle of Point Pleasant. 
Order o f Exercises. 
Procession to form in front of 
Court House at 10 A. M. in the 
following order : Mayor, Orator, 
and Committee of Arrangements. 
State Cadets. 
The Clergy. 



Relatives. 
Music. • 
Knights of Pythias and other 
Orders. 

Distinguished Guests. 
Citizens. 
Funeral Procession. 
Escort of State Cadets. 
Re-interment of the remains of 
the heroes who fell in this battle, 
with becoming ceremonies at 3 
o'clock p. m. 
Under the effective Marshals 
who had been on duty at the 
Fair Grounds for the last four 
days, the column was formed — 
The Cadets were headed by their 
own drum corps; the Knights of 
Pythias by the Gallipolis and 
Point Pleasant Brass Bands 
combined, whilst the Ravens- 
wood Brass Band marched up 
the side walk and waited for the 
formation of the column, after 
which it took the place assigned 
it. 

Just before 11 A. M. the col- 
umn was put in motion and 
marched in the order assigned, 
to the Fair Ground, where more 
than a thousand people were 
found waiting the arrival of the 
column. So densly crowded was 
the amphitheater before the head 
of the column reached its front 
that it was with the utmost dif- 
ficulty that the Committee of 
Arrangements could clear away 
space enough for the Company 
of Cadets. A stand for the 
speakers had been erected just 



104 



opposite the center of the am- 
phitheatre. This stand was oc- 
cupied by the following persons : 
Col. Lewis Ruffner, Col. C. B. 
Waggener, Col. Benj. H. Smith, 
Capts. H. H. Pierce, Command- 
ing- the Cadets, Geo. C. Sturgess, 
Corresponding Secretary of the 
Historical Society of the Board 
of Regents University of West 
Virginia, J. W. Screntz, Treas- 
urer of the same, Dr. Thomas 
Creigh, of Greenrier County, Dr. 
S G. Shaw, President of the 
Centennial Society, F. A. 
Guthrie, Attorney at Law, and 
member of the Committee of Ar- 
rangements, Jno. E. Timms, At- 
torney at Law, Secretary of the 
Mason County Agricultural So- 
ciety, Col. (Dr.) A. R. Barbee, 
G. W. E. Mitchell, of Ports- 
mouth, Ohio, John D. Lewis and 
Jno. Waddell, who was wearing 
the shot pouch aud powder horn 
carried by his father, Alexander 
Waddell, in the Battle of Point- 
Pleasant. The Clergy occupy- 
ing the stand were Father Fran- 
cis Guthrie, one of the Pioneer 
Methodist Preachers of the Ka 
nawha Valley, Revs. S. E. Lane 
T. H. Rymer, T. H. Lacy, G. 
C. Wilding, and W. E. Hill. 
The exercises were introduced 
with a prayer offered by Father 
Guthrie, which was full of 
thanksgiving and praise, then 
the orator, Col. Ben Smith, was 
introduced by Mr. Timms. He 
commenced reading his well 



written and interesting address 
at 12 o'clock and 22 minutes, just 
five minutes after the 13th gun 
of the salute was fired by the 
Artillery Company from Gallipo- 
lis, Ohio. This occupied about 
thirty-five minutes. The speak- 
er took his seat amid deafening 
roars The following resolution 
was offered by Dr. Barbee: 

Resolved, That the thanks of 
this audience be returned to Col. 
Smith, for his interesting ad- 
dress, and that, with his permis- 
sion, it be published in full in the 
Point Pleasant Register. 

This resolutions was carried 
without a dissenting voice. 

After this the following pream- 
ble and resolutions were offered 
by Rev. W. E. Hill: 

Whereas, Just one hundred 
years have passed by since the 
battle of Point Pleasant was 
fought and won. 

2. In this battle there was 
displayed gallantry of such char- 
acter, as to merit a lasting mon- 
ument. 

3. It is the opinion of some, 
whose opinion is worthy of re- 
spect, that this battle bore an 
important relation to the war of 
the Revolution, by which the 
original thirteen colonies gained 
their independence. 

4. The battle of Point Pleas- 
ant hastened the material pros- 
perity of this and other States, 
by the sacrifice of noble blood, 
therefore be it Resolved. 



105 



1st. That a committee of 
three with power to engage 
others, be appointed to solicit 
contributions for the purpose of 
erecting a monument and pur- 
chasing the ground round about 
the spot where the remains of 
our heroes now repose. 

That this committee be em- 
powered to raise a subscription 
on the ground to-day; to write to 
the descendents of the brave 
men who were engaged or fell 
on the field of Point Pleasant, 
asking them to aid in this work 
by contributions; to ask the Leg- 
islatures of Virginia, West Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky and Ohio, to 
make appropriations to this 
work; and to request also the 
Congress of the United States to 
make an appropriation to the 
same end. 

2nd. That this monument be 
erected within the next twelve 
months, and of West Virginia 
marble. 

3rd. That it be unveiled on 
the 10th of October, 1875. 

4th. That the committee be 
empowered to arrange for funer- 
al oration and an historical ad- 
dress on the occasoin: and to 
make such other arrangements 
as may be necessary to gather 
together the military organiza- 
tions of the State; the various 
secret societies of a. benevolent 
character; the legislatures of the 
State, &c. 

Mr. Hill introduced these res- 



olutions b}' a motion to resolve 
tiie vast audience into a Monu- 
mental Centennial Organization. 
After the reading of the resolu- 
tions a motion was made to adopt. 
Pending this, Dr. Creigh arose 
and asked to be allowed to speak 
on the question. Permission 
was granted, and the Dr. per- 
fectly thrilled those within reach 
of his voice After the Doctor's 
eloquent speech, the motion to 
adopt the resolutions was carried 
with but one single dissenting 
voice, whose "no" was followed 
by cries "of "put him out!" 
"Knock him down," &c. 

Mr. Mitchell, of Portsmouth. 
Ohio, was then introduced and 
made, a short speech, which 
could not be heard very far off, 
owing to the noise of the moving 
crowd and the low pitch of voice, 
and its effectiveness was marred 
to some extent. Loud cries 
were head for (Walker) . It was 
announced that Mr. Walker was 
at the Point, and had been sent 
for, but could not get here for 
some time. 

A cry for Sturgess brought 
that gentlemen to his feet, and 
he made a very happy address. 

The President, Dr. G. S. Shaw, 
announced as a temporary com- 
mittee to wait upon the crowd, 
to solicit contributions for the 
monument, viz: E. L. Neale, 
Dr. C. T. B. Moore, and F. A. 
Guthrie. The latter gentlemen 
being a member of the Commit- 



106 



tee of Arrangements, suggested 
Rev. W. E. Hill, as his substi- 
tute. Recess was taken and 
ample provisions were made to 
fill the inner man. Many fami- 
lies gathered in groups about 
the grounds, in picnic fashion, 
and ate their dinner whilst a 
roast ox was served up at the 
public table. During the recess 
the committee raised by sub- 
scription about six hundred dol- 
lars. One gentleman subscrib- 
ed two hundred dollars in cash 
on two papers, and we do not 
think he indends to stop at that 
if more is necessary from him, 
to erect the monument. There 
was such a. dense crowd and 
such hurrying to and fro that it 
was almost impossible to get the 
attention of the people long 
enough to get them to subscribe, 
or we doubt not, more than r. 
thousand dollars could have 
been raised. 

After dinner the crowd was 
called together to listen to Hon. 
Henry S. Walker, who delivered 
a most appropriate and thrilling- 
3y eloquent address. We would 
not attempt to given even a syn- 
opsis of it, so carried away were 
we with its effect upon the peo- 
ple that we could not take a note 
but stood, feeling with delight 
its effect upon our self and watch- 
ing the feelings of uthers as their 
animated countenances told that 
the touch of eloquence was forc- 
ing the tell-tale blood to their 



faces. Frequent outbursts of 
applause interrupted the speak- 
er, and a hearty vote of thanks 
was returned for his eloquent 
address. We must say one thing 
about Mr. Walker's address; it 
was written and written too in a 
few hours, for he was captured 
as he was aiming to pass the 
Point. In this case captured 
propertv proved to be A No. 1. 
After the address by Mr. Wal- 
ker, the procession was reform- 
ed in the same order and took 
up the line of march from the 
point at the head of Viand Street 
the column received the Hearse 
and Casket containing the re- 
mains of some of the heroes of 
Point Pleasant tbat were killed 
in the battle. These were ex- 
humed on yesterday and today, 
under the supervision of the 
Committee, Dr. Barbee Superin- 
tending in person. Here the 
Cadets with reversed arms and 
muffled drums, took their posi- 
tion as an escort. The column 
moved down Main street, to the 
Kanawha River, and filed to the 
right, where the bone of ourslain 
heroes were re-interred with 
military honors. At the grave 
the beautiful burial service of the 
Church was read by the Minis- 
ters present in the column. 

As the procession was moving 
down Main street, first the Court 
House Bell, then the bell of the 
M. E. Cnurch, South, were tolled, 
whilst the minute gun was fired 



107 



by the Artillery Company. The 
drums were muffled and the 
band played an appropriate piece, 
thus giving- solemnity to the ex- 
ercises. 

Just before the benediction 
was pronounced, a vote of thanks 
was returned to the Morgantown 
Cadets, to the Knights of 
Pythias, Band and Artillery, of 
Gallipolis, Ohio, to the Ravens- 
wood Band, and all others who 
had aided in the Centennial Cele- 
bration. 

The crowd then dispersed, the 
Cadets marched to the Kline 
House, where three rousing, 
hearty cheers were given them 
by all present; the Knights took 
up their line of march toward 
their homes, at Gallipolis, and 
the other organizations went al- 
so to their homes. The Cadets 
took the steamer Clara Scott for 
Charleston. 

Thus ended the First Centen- 
nial Celebration of the Battle of 
Point Pleasant. We say in con- 
cluding- our description of it, 
from morning till night; each one 
that had a given part to perform, 
vied with the other as to which 
could do it best. All acted well 
their parts. 

There may have been, but we 
did not see, a single drunken 
man on the ground. 

The Point Pleasant Brass 
Band has done better than its 
most sanguine friends had hoped 
for it, both during the celebration 



of today, and the three days of 
the Fair. May it still continue 
to improve — we can stand the 
hum drum of practice for the 
sake of such a treat as they have 
given us in the last few days. 

Let us all now go to work earn- 
nestly and determinedly to make 
the "unveilingof the Monument" 
as decided a success as the Cele- 
bration of today — but let us 
make it wider in its extent. Let 
us make it State and National. 
Come up, one and all with what 
you can do with money and influ- 
ence, and we shall have the 
pleasure of chronicling at the 
end of another year, the success 
of the enterprise inagurated to- 
day. There will be some croak- 
ing as a matter of course — some 
men grumble even at the wisdom 
and benevolence of the Infinite 
God — but let us, who are deter- 
mined to succeed in the enter- 
prise before us, turn a deaf ear 
to all croaking, and the more 
they croak, the more determined 
let us become. One hundred 
years ago was a great historical 
epoch of Point Pleasant. Today 
has been another, let one year 
from today be another. Who 
dares say "nay?" What citizen 
of Mason County, or West Vir- 
ginia, or Virginia, or Ohio, or 
Kentucky, or the United States, 
could refuse to aid in doing honor 
to the heroes of Point Pleasant?" 
BRIEF MENTION. 

"In the midst of the throng of 



108 



the Centennial celebration, we 
noticed many of the direct de- 
scendants of the warriors of one 
hundred years ago, and will re- 
call the names of them as far as 
we can: There were the East- 
hams, the Somervilles, Jas. Ar- 
buckle, Jr., of Greenbrier, John 
D. Lewis, of Kanawha, the Lew- 
ises, of Mason, Mrs. Agnes Se- 
hon, who had two grandfathers 
in this great battle, (Col. Charles 
Lewis and Col. John Stuart,) 
who is also the first representa- 
tive of four living- generations 
who were upon the ground and 
who are liniel decendents of the 
two pioneers — Cols. Lewis and 
Stuart. The fourth generation 
was represented by her great 
grand child, little Grafton Tyler, 
who is now some three or four 
years old. Mrs. Sehon was 
probably the only person on the 
ground that could say as much — 
John Waddell, of Ohio, was also 
present and had swung around 
his shoulder the powder-horn 
and bullet pouch, carried by his 
father in the Battle of Point 
Pleasant on the 10th day of Oc- 
tober, 1774. The Hannans, the 
Clendennins, the Millers, of Ma- 
son County, the Clendenins, the 
Uannans, the Millers of Ohio. 
There were a number of others 
present whose names we did not 
ascertain. " 

On October 22nd, the Register 
published the speech of Dr. 
Thos. Creigh, of Virg-inia, deliv 



ered on the occasion of the anni- 
versary of the battle, which we 
quote in part : 

"I am glad I am here because 
I witness a scene, (and I appeal 
to the best and oldest historians 
here present for the truth of the 
remark, that such a scene of 
moral sublimity, except: the sign- 
ing- of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, has never been pre- 
sented to the people of these 
United States as is presented 
here today.) And what is that 
scene? I see around me some 
two thousand people with the 
descendants of the heroes of the 
battle of Point Pleasant, to the 
third and fourth generation, on 
this 10th day of October, 1874,— 
under a bright October sun, one 
hundred years after the battle, — 
assembled on the battle-field, fol- 
lowing the lofty instincts of our 
nature, to gather the bones of 
their ancestors, place them in a 
metallic coffin, catch the inspira- 
tion of their ever living virtue 
and valor, and determining- to 
place a high and enduring monu- 
ment to their memory. Yes sir, 
to erect a monument hig-h and 
lofty on the banks between the 
Great Kanawha and Ohio, to 
overlook these two great rivers, 
the music of whose waters will 
mingle with the names forever, 
where the passengers on board 
your vast merchant steamers, 
sailing on these great commer- 
cial highways, shall see it and as 



109 



they pass by uncover their heads 
and toll from the bell a requiem 
to their memory, and where the 
valiant youth of our country 
shall in all future time come to 
worship at this shrine, study 
their character, imitate their vir- 
tues and be inspired by their 
lofty deeds of patriotism, and 
where boys and girls in happy 
bands shall come for long cen- 
turies and cover this marble 
column with the cypress and the 
vine, and the immortal flower." 

"Yes, sir, build this marble 
column to their memory, for 
they were "tall and grand" old 
warriors. Do you know why I 
say "tali and grand?" they are 
not original terms with me. I 
will tell you where I got them. 
Old Pool, a colored man, was the 
body servant of Col. John Stuart, 
of Greenbrier at the battle and 
witnessed the fight at Pt. Pleas- 
ant, and took part in it. Old Dick 
Pointer, another colored man, 
was the hero of Donnalley's Fort, 
near Lewisburg, Greenbrier 
county, and for his bravery, was 
freed b}' the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia, and received a pension. 
Col. Ben Smith, our orator, was 
no doubt a member of the Vir- 
ginia Legislature at that time. 
Old Pool and Old Dick "were 
talking over their battles -in 
Lewisburg one day when I was 
a school boy, and we school boys 
were all standing by and listen- 
ing. Pool and Dick became very 



much excited in telling what 
each had done. Dick says the 
Indian is taller than the white 
man for I killed Indians as high 
as the court house. No, says 
Pool, if you could have seen Mas. 
John and Charles and James, in 
the fight at the Point, when fire 
flew out of their eyes like the fire 
out of their guns; they were just 
as tall and grand as the old trees 
on Kanawha. That is the rea- 
son why I say they were "tall 
and grand old warriors." 

"But, sir, history informs us 
that there was a man by the 
name of George Washington, 
who had a high opinion of the 
companies of these Point Pleas- 
ant, warriors, for he said in a 
dark hour of his campaign to his 
wearied and dispirited army on 
the plains of New Jersey, 'only 
give me the men to place the 
standard of my country on the 
mountains of West Augusta, and 
I will call around me the men 
who shall make my country free. 
These 'tall and grand' warriors 
were West Augusta men, and 
Washington knew them." 

"Yes, build a monument of en- 
during marble to the memory of 
those old grand warriors, for 
you may look down the long pic- 
ture gallery of history and you 
will find no brighter or grander 
names than the men of 1774 and 
1776. Nor let us forget their 
characters, or their great princi- 



110 



pies of eivil liberty, or insult the 
spirit of liberty." 

While the Register of Decem- 
ber 10, 1774, gives the following 
account of the committee. 

The Point Pleasant Monu- 
ment Association held their first 
meeting in the law office of John 
W, English, Esq., December 4th, 
1874. All the members of the 
Committee, viz: W. E. Hill, F. 
A. Guthrie and John W. English, 
were present. On motion, John 
W. English, was called to the 
chair; and on further motion, 
was made permanent Chairman. 
On motion, C. E. Hogg, was 
elected Secretary, and T. Strib- 
ling, Treasurer. On motion, the 
Committee was ordered to in- 
quire into the title of the land on 
which the monument is to be 
erected. On motion, the Com- 
mittee was directed to see Drs. 
Shaw and Moore with reference 
to subscription papers, and also 
ascertain how T much money is in 
their hands belonging to the 
Association, and to pay the same 
to the Treasurer. On motion, 
the Association adjourned to 
meet Thursday evening, Decem- 
ber 17th, 1874. " 

While no report has been pre- 
served of the Monument Associ- 
ation, founded on October 10, 
1874, the work of procuring 
funds was taken up by the Ma- 
son County representatives in 
the Legislature of West Virginia, 
Hon. Edmund Sehon, descendant 



of Col. Charles Lewis introduc- 
ing the bill in the lower house, 
while Hon. P. C. Eastham, de- 
scendant of George Eastham, of 
the Battle of Point Pleasant, in- 
troduced the bill in the upper 
house. On Feb. 25, 1875, the 
Legislature passed a bill carry- 
ing an appropriation of $3,500.00 
to aid in the purchase of land 
and the erection of a monument 
in commemoration of the Battle 
of Point Pleasant, the President 
and Secretary of the Monument 
Association to have charge of the 
erection of said monument, the 
parties investing the money with 
approved security, awaiting as 
sistance from other states. 
No further action was taken un- 
til Feb. 26, 1897, when the Leg- 
islature adopted a Joint Resolu- 
tion by which Governor Geo. W. 
Atkinson appointed Judge John 
W. English, Dr. A. R. Barbee 
ana Judge F. A. Guthrie as cus- 
todians of the fund appropriated 
by the Legislature. 

The matter again lay dormant 
and no effort was made either to 
collect the funds or secure fur- 
ther appropriations. 

That the State and Point 
Pleasant was not free from cen- 
sure for their dereliction of duty, 
we quote in part from the King- 
wood Argus of June 29, 1899, 
copied in the State Gazette July 
4th, of that year: "We were at 
Point Pleasant and visited the 
graves of the almost forgotten 



Ill 



dead who fell in that memorable 
battle and we were surprised 
and indignant to find the place 
almost surrounded by stables 
and hog" pens and lying along a 
back alley with not a mark of 
any kind to designate the spot; 
not even a fence or wall around 
the place and no one could find it 
without a guide who knew just 
where it was. It was only a very 
small plot of ground, in some one 
else's back yard, with stables on 
two sides of it and a garden on 
another side and the only way to 
get to it is down a dirty alley. 
Nearly a hundred pioneers of 
that section who fell in that bat- 
tle, fighting old Cornstalk for 
possession of the beautiful land 
along the Ohio river lie buried 
there, unmarked and almost for- 
gotton. It is a burning shame 
and disgrace on the town to al- 
low it. We went up to a news- 
paper office and made a vigorous 
kick about it and learned that 
money had been appropriated 
by the State and also quite a sum 
raised by the ladies of Point 
Pleasant to erect a monument to 
these heroes, dead defenders of 
our country. Now let justice 
and decency compel a disposition 
of this matter. The State or 
the town should take charge and 
secure some contiguous ground 
to the resting place which can- 
not be called a cemetery or even 
a graveyard, as it is now, and 
make a little park out of it with 



a fence around it, and erect a 
handsome mouument on the cen- 
ter of the site and make a decent 
way to get to it by removing 
some of the adjoining stables 
and hog pens." 

The State Gazette appended 
the following editorial comment: 
"We think the suggestion that 
the park and monument should 
be contiguous to the resting 
place of the dead heroes and 
should include it as well as the 
site of the old fort is the cor- 
rect solution. The Argus 
will no doubt be surprised to 
learn that there are suggestions 
now made that the monument be 
placed away up on the Ohio 
bank twelve squares from the 
site of the old fort and grave of 
Col. Lewis and others, and sug- 
gestions that it be placed back 
on the hill overlooking the town. " 

There is no mention of the 
celebration of the anniversary of 
that year 1899 save the local 
newspaper account that, 

"To-day, October 10, 1899, is 
the one hundred and twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the battle of Point 
Pleasant, fought between Gener- 
al Andrew Lewis and Cornstalk, 
the sachem of many nations and 
no citizen evidenced any inter- 
est save Col. G. B. Thomas, the 
Post-master, who decorated the 
Post Office with flags." 

No further agitation of the 
subject appeared in the local 
newspapers save that of the 



112 



State Gazette of April 21, 1899, 
urging the organization of a 
Chapter of Daughters of the 
American Revolution and Sons 
of the Revolution here, looking 
forward to proper recognition of 
the Battle of Point Pleasant in 
which it said: "Here was 
fought the first battle of the Rev- 
olution and whv should not this 
town and county boast of the 
largest patriotic organizations in 
the State." 

No further steps were taken 
at Point Pleasant iooking to a 
monument appropriation until 
Feb. 11, 1901, when Mrs. Livia 
Simpson-Poffenbarger issued a 
call for the organization of a 
Chapter of the Daughters of the 
American Revolution which is of 
date of Feb. 14, 1909, reported 
as follows in the State Gazette: 

"A sufficient number of ladies 
met at the home of Mrs. George 
Potf enbarger yesterday to organ- 
ise a Chapter of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution. As 
soon as the requirements are 
duly met, a Charter will be 
granted. This is a most com- 
mendable move and should meet 
with the support and best wish- 
es of the entire town." 

At this meeting it was explain- 
ed that the chief motive in organ- 
izing this patriotic society was 
that an organized effort might 
be made to secure funds for the 
erection of a Battle Monument at 
Point Pleasant and the recogni- 



tion of the battle as that of the 
first Battle of the Revolution. 

On Feb. 26, 1901, a call was is- 
sued for the organization of a 
Chapter of Sons of the Revolution 
and the State Gazette of that is- 
sue said editorially, "This is a 
move in the right direction. 
This is the historic spot of the 
first battle of the Revolution. 
In order that history may accord 
us that place with due credit, we 
must first show that Point Pleas- 
ant appreciates this fact. If the 
spot is to be properly marked 
and receive from the National 
Government the appropriation 
and recognition for a splendid 
monument that the battle de- 
serves, we must first show that 
the memory is dear to us." 

On Feb. 29, 1901, the Daugh- 
ters of the American Revolution 
were formally organized and the 
name selected was that of Col. 
Charles Lewis, named for one of 
the best beloved heroes of those 
who fell at the Battle of Point 
Pleasant. At that meeting the 
Daughters in conformity with 
the statement of Governor White 
that he would appoint one man 
outside of Point Pleasant and 
two resident members of the 
commission to look after the 
funds the ladies recommended 
V. A. Lewis of Mason and P. S 
Lewis and C. C. Bowyer of Point 
Pleasant, but the Governor later 
decided to appoint but one man 
in Point Pleasant and the com- 



113 



mission named was John P. 
Austin, C. C. Bowyer and V. A. 
Lewis. On March 11, 1901, Mr. 
Joe Friedman not only present- 
ed the Col. Charles Lewis Chap- 
ter the money with which to pay 
for their charter, but also for 
the purchase of their record 
books and proffered when a 
monument was completed to 
donate a splendid Band and 
Speaker's stand. 

The State Gazette of March 
11, 1901, says: "The new com- 
mittee to be appointed should 
first secure the grounds. This 
would be the beginning- looking 
toward the end. Then the old 
buildings could be cleared away, 
grading done, grass sown, trees 
set out and the grounds beauti- 
fied. These all take time to 
bring them to perfection. 
There is sufficient money all 
ready subscribed, together with 
what could be secured, by pri- 
vate subscription to do this much 
handsomely. The government 
could then b e presented the 
ground as a National Historic 
Park and the War Department 
under the head of Rivers and 
Harbors could be induced to 
grade the banks bordering on 
both rivers and they would then 
be forever taken care of. Be- 
sides, its historic significance, it 
is in point of beauty of location 
the most desirable site in town. 
The view is splendid from both 
rivers. The view from the sur- 



rounding hills is perfect and it 
would give strangers a different 
opinion of the town from the 
ragged appearance it now has 
from rail and river. 

On April 18, 1901, the newly 
appointed Monument Commis- 
sioners gave bond before the 
Mason County Court with ap- 
proved security and when they 
had met for organization, John 
P. Austin was elected President 
and C. C. Bowyer Treasurer and 
V. A. Lewis Secretary. 

The issue of May 28, 1901, of 
the State Gazette says: "The 
Battle Monument Commission 
held a meeting at the Merchants 
National Bank Saturday last. 
The members composing the 
commission Hon. John P. Aus- 
tin, President, Hon. V. A. 
Lewis, Secretary and Hon. C. C. 
Bowyer, Treasurer, together 
with other citizens and a State 
Gazette Reporter went down to 
the Kanawha point where had 
stood the old fort and where 
some of the heroes of the battle 
of Point Pleasant were buried 
and made a careful inspection of 
the grounds. The public seem 
generally united in the belief 
that this is the proper place to 
erect the monument and it might 
be said that the property bound- 
ed by Main and First Streets 
and the two rivers will be pur- 
chased shortly by the commis- 
sion provided the owners of the 



114 



property do not demand too ex- 
orbatant a price." 

On Decoration Day, May 30th, 
1901, for the first time a public 
memorial exercise was held, 
whereby the graves of the heroes 
of the battle of Point Pleasant 
were decorated, in charge 
of the D. A. R. and G. A. R. so- 
cieties of the town. A large con- 
course of people attended the ex- 
ercises. The State Gazette of 
June 18, 1901, records that John 
D. McCulloch had given an op- 
tion on his property on the mon- 
ument site for $1,000 00; C. H. 
Varian SI, 200.00; Geo. T., Chas. 
and Henry Stone $3,000.00; Thos. 
Durst S600.00, a total of $5,800.- 
00, which includes all the contem- 
plated territory needed except 
the Geo. Comstock property, up- 
on which a price had not been 
agreed." 

Later Mr. Comstock's proper- 
ty was secured at 32,200.00. 

From the issue of August, 
1901, of the Charleston Daily 
Mail's report of the Monument 
Commission, held at that place 
we glean the following: "Hon. 
V. A. Lewis reported that the 
Commission had about 511,000.00 
in the treasury, but that the 
work, as planned would necessi- 
tate the expenditure of $25,000.- 
00 more." Speaking of the Bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant, the Daily 
Mail quotes Mr. Lewis as fol- 
lows: "All careful painstaking 
thoughtful historians have re- 



garded it as the first in the ser- 
ies of the Revolution which gave 
the continent to liberty. It was 
the chief event of Dunmore's 
War." 

On August 29, 1901, the State 
Gazette announced that the Com- 
mittee had decided to commence 
clearing the grounds at once and 
that paper made the first appeal 
for the Celebration of the Battle. 

"It is the intention that the 
clearing of the grounds shall be 
completed by the anniversary of 
the great battle of Point Pleas- 
ant, Oct. 10, 1774." 

"The significance of the battle 
has not been wholly overlooked. 
Thousands know of its impor- 
tance and it remains for Point 
Pleasant herself to appreciate 
her relation to history and de- 
mand from the State and from 
Congress the substantial recog- 
nition due this spot. Our citi- 
zens should join in one glorious 
celebration of this anniversary 
Oct. 10 . We trust that there is 
enough patriotism in the town 
to observe it. If in no other 
way, let it be one grand 
union picnic. The weather will 
be fine and all can come together 
at least in the spirit of patriotism 
and good fellowship". 

Mrs. Poffenbarger, editor of 
the State Gazette, not only is- 
sued a call for a citizen's meet- 
ing on Thursday night Septem- 
ber 5th, looking toward the cele- 
bration, but she had secured the 



115 



cooperation of Col. J. P. R B. 
Smith and, at that meeting- do- 
nated the services of her paper 
to advertise the meeting-, supple- 
mented by a subscription secur- 
ed by her of over $200.00 with 
which to begin the work. The 
paper of that issue contained the 
following full page advertise- 
ment, besides the names of the 
donors of cash: 

127th ANNIVERSARY 
The First Battle of the Revolu- 
tion to be celebrated at 
POINT PLEASANT, W. VA. 
Thursday Oct. 10th, 1901. 
Great National Speakers 
will be present. 

Entertainment for the people. 
Excursions on all railroads and 
steamboats will be arrang-ed for. 

The Old Log- Mansion built in 
1796, that has lived in three cen- 
turies will be used to exhibit the 
greatest lot of Historic Relics 
ever brought together in West 
Virginia, outside the Historical 
Society at Charleston. 

EVERY ONE INVITED. 

The monument Park and 
Court House yard will make fine 
picnic grounds. 

Watch this space for attrac- 
tions as they are secured. 1 ' 

As a result of the meeting at 
the court house committees were 
organized and Mrs. Poffenbarg-er 
participated in the work of 
all the committees. The issue 
of September 19 shows an addi- 
tional subscription, making- a to- 



tal of $409.00, besides g-enerous 
subscriptions, of exhibits for the 
museum. The children of the 
public schools contributed $8.50 
to be used in decorating a wagon 
for the parade. The newspa- 
pers of the country stood up and 
took notice of the big celebration 
and helped advertise it. 

In the issue of Oct. 10th, The 
State Gazette announced the 
presence of distinguished visit- 
ors, among whom was Gen. C. 
H. Grosvener of Ohio, faithful 
advocate for an appropriation 
from Congress to commemorate 
the battle. Virgil A. Lewis, in 
an article published in the State 
Gazette of that date, said: 

"After all, even though it be 
here, is it best to assert without 
reference to the proof that the 
battle of Point Pleasant is the 
first battle of the Revolution and 
then array against us the whole 
of New England where the peo- 
ple are jealous of the claims 
of Lexington. It is easy to 
make assertions, but to exam- 
ine hundreds of volumes and ob- 
tain records from both Europe 
and America in proof of the 
same, is quite another thing. 
Do not throw the burden of 
proof of this matter on a com- 
mittee before a Congressional 
Committee." 

The State Gazette of October 
17, 1901, announced that the 
Mansion House had been turned 
over to of three ladies who had 



116 



accepted it as a headquarters 
for the Col. Charles Lewis Chap- 
ter D. A. R. Also that work on 
Tu-Endie-Wei Park had been 
discontinued for want of funds 
and made an appeal that the 
Commission set out trees on the 
edge of the Park or permit the 
citizens to do so. Also the list 
of subscribers to the expense of 
the Celebration. 

"While the following is the pub- 
lished account of the big cele- 
bration: 

-THEY CAME. 
From Every Direction. 
Ten Thousand People Celebrat- 
ed the 127th Anniversary of the 
First Battle of 
The Revolution. 
Tu-Endie-Wei Park. 

On last Thursday the good 
citizens of Point Pleasant cele- 
brated the 127th anniversary of 
the battle of Point Pleasant, the 
first battle of the Revolution. 

It only needed for our people 
to arouse themselves and make 
the effort to have one of the big- 
gest celebrations ever held in the 
state. Beside our people, who 
were for the most part upon our 
streets, enough more swelled the 
crowd until we had fully ten 
thousand celebrating. Hereto- 
fore, when Ave had any demon- 
stration in the town, the crowd 
was from the Ohio river landing 
to the Court House. This time 
the streets were crowded from 



the Court House to the Kanawha 
River, with fully five thousand 
people upon the Park. 

The K. & M. Railroad ran a 
dollar excursion from Athens to 
this place, and Point Pleasant 
can never forget the kindness of 
that road. When we solicited 
them for a cheap rate they re- 
plied if it would be any accommo- 
dation to Point Pleasant and 
they only made it pay expense of 
running the train they would 
give it to us to show to Point 
Pleasant the kindly feeling of 
that road, toward our town. 
They not only gave us just the 
service w r e asked for but they 
put out L5,000 attractive hand 
bills and advertised their rates 
in the newspapers along the 
route, and when they came in 
here they brought us not only 
the Nelsonville and Middleport 
bands, but they brought a big 
train packed w T ith people from 
Athens and way stations; the}' 
brought us Gen. Chas. H. Gros- 
venor, one of the stalwarts sons 
of the Revolution who came to 
address our people and promote 
the success of the day. The K. 
& M. brought us a train of eight 
or ten coaches from Charleston 
that had standing room only and 
while the excursion was profita- 
ble to the K. & M. and we are 
glad it was, we must not forget 
that it was run wholly to compli- 
ment Point Pleasant. The con- 
duct of the K. & M. was greatly 



117 



in contrast to that of the Ohio 
River Division of the B. & O. R. 
R , who were importuned by let- 
ter, in person, and by telegraph, 
to give us a rate, but of no avail, 
and notwithstanding- full fair was 
charged, that road brought in 
crowds of people with a crowded 
train from the north aud stand- 
ing room only coming in from 
the south end. - Steamboats 
brought in excursions and hacks 
run between here and Gallipolis 
while six hundred persons cross- 
ed the Kanawha Ferry, and as 
many more had to be ferried in 
private boats in harbor. The 
farmers came in carriages, bug- 
gies, expresses, big wagons, 
horseback and on foot, any way 
so they came, and they came as 
a multitude. 

"Notwithstanding the rain, the 
night before, which was just 
enough to lay the dust, the sun 
shone out about eight o'clock 
and the -day was ideal." 

"Never before did the old town 
wear such a gala dress. Old 
Glory and buntings galore waved 
from every residence and busi- 
ness house. There was neither 
the difference of politics or reli- 
gion or even the distinction of 
secret organizations to mar the 
occasion, but all came together 
upon a common level for one 
grand glorification of the cele- 
bration of the battle, the farthest 
reaching in its effect of any bat- 
tle ever fought upon the Ameri- 



can Continent — the first battle of 
the Revolution — the battle that 
broke the power of the red men 
in America; the battle that 
brought the treaty that enabled 
civilization to mareh on to the 
west and southwest and great 
northwest territory; the battle 
that resulted in ceding to Vir- 
ginia and thence to the colonies 
the great Northwest; that battle 
that defied at its close Tory mis- 
rule, the first battle ever fought 
after the tea had been thrown 
overboard at Boston Harbor the 
preceding March. The Boston 
Port Bill, of May, 1774, the sig- 
nal for actual conflict had been 
passed. The House of Burges- 
ses, of Virginia, had declared 
the first of June of that year to 
be "A day of fasting, imploring 
the Divine interposition to avert 
the heavy calamity which threat- 
ened destruction to their civil 
rights and the evils of a civil 
war." Massachusetts had pas- 
sed resolutions deploring the op- 
pression of Great Britain. 
Patrick Henry had made his 
famous speech before the House 
of Burgesses, of Virginia, de- 
claring that "The war is inevita- 
ble, and let it come," and asked 
"Is life so dear or peace so sweet 
as to be purchased at the price 
of chains and slavery?" 

"England, too, recognized be- 
fore the Battle of Point Pleasant 
that the war was inevitable, and 
determined to keep the colonists 



118 



so busy defending themselves 
from hostile Indians armed with 
English muskets and English 
amunition, that they would 
have no time to think of the 
wrongs inflicted upon them by 
the mother country. Great 
Britain never had a better tool 
than Lord Dunmore, the Tory 
Governor of Virginia, as his sub- 
sequent conduct proved. Hence, 
the battle of Point Pleasant, (in 
which Lord Dunmore intended 
the flower of the Colonial Army 
of Virginia to be destroyed but 
which, victorious to his surprise) 
became the first battle in which 
the blood of patriots was spilled 
upon American soil for the cause 
of National Independence, and 
was so credited by Alexander S. 
Withers, in his chronicles of 
Border warfare, later by Ban- 
croft, the Government historian, 
by President Rosevelt, in his 
"Winning the West," and by 
many other historians, of repute. 

Is it any wonder that we point 
with pride to this battle and in- 
vited the whole country to cele- 
brate with us? 

"At ten o'clock the parade be- 
gan to form on First Street and 
it was of such magnitude that it 
took Col. J. P. R. B. Smith, the 
Grand Marshall of the dav, and 
his corps of splendid assistants, 
an hour to get them all in line 
ready for march. It was headed 
by James Somerville, of Pleasant 
Flats, dressed as Uucle Sam, 



(and in face and figure he is tvpi- 
cal of the figurative head of the 
nation,) all the city fathers, ex- 
cept Mayor Somerville, who act- 
ed as a marshall, were in the 
parade in carriages, The fire 
department were out with their 
wagon decorated. There were 
floats galore, put in by the busi- 
ness men of the town, vying 
with each other to see which 
could make the finest display. 
The three splendid bands, 
Cheshire, Middleport and Nel- 
sonville, discoursed sweet music 
along the route and the children 
of the white schools marching in 
line wearing bouteniers of na- 
tional colors, waving flags, which 
little girls representing the 
states and territories, and the 
colored children on a wagon 
beautifully decorated made the 
prettiest parade ever seen in 
Point Pleasant. 

What might have been a seri- 
ous accident, but proved to be a 
fortunate escape, occured when 
a wagon with 103 children on it 
passed over a culvert on 14th 
Street. The culvert went down 
and the top of the wagon was 
separated in the lunge from the 
platform and the children were 
precipated to the ground. 
Fortunately no one was hurt and 
the procession proceeded down 
Main Street to First, the chil- 
dren falling in line with the 
others in the line of march, 
where they disbanded Three 



119 



open air concerts were given 
from 1 to 2 o'clock, when the 
speaking began from a platform 
at the grounds recently purchas- 
ed as a site for a monument yet 
to be arected. The grounds are 
situated at the junction of the 
Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, with- 
out doubt the most beautiful site 
for a park on the Ohio river." 

The large audience was called 
to order by Col. J. P. R. B. 
Smith, who called our distin- 
guished fellow townsmen, Hon. 
C. E. Hogg to the chair. Mr. 
Hogg in his usual pleasing man- 
ner did the honors of the occa- 
sion with credit to himself and 
to Point Pleasant. Mr. Hogg 
then introduced Mrs. Livia 
Simpson-Poffenbarger, Regent 
of Col. Chas. Lewis Chapter of 
the Daughters of the American 
Revolution, who had been desig- 
nated by her Chapter to dedicate 
and name the park which she did 
in a short address, as follows: 

"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and 
Gentleman: 

It has been deemed fitting and 
appropriate, that, by some 
means this beautiful and historic 
spot of ground be dedicated to 
the noble purpose for which it 
has been purchased, and given a 
name by which it may be known 
in the future. The important 
duty has not been sought by the 
organization I have the honor to 
represent. I wish to emphasize 
the fact, without going into ex- 



planation or detail, that it has 
been rather thrust upon us. We 
are simply doing that which has 
been denied to others who have 
been invited to do it, by their 
situation and present circum- 
stances. We have accepted the 
trust and assumed the duty in 
the absence of others who might, 
and we sincerely believe, would 
have preformed it better. 

However, I wish to premise 
that it is not at all unappropriate 
that the Society of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution per- 
form this most important func- 
tion. Ours is purely a patriotic 
organization and our work is 
carried on in the name of patri 
otism and inspired by love of 
country. The objects and pur- 
poses of our society are set forth 
in our constitution, Article 1, as 
follows: 

(1) "To perpetuate the mem- 
ory of the spirit of the men and 
women who achieved American 
Independence, by the acquisition 
and protection of historical spots, 
and the erection of monuments; 
by the encouragement to histori- 
cal research in relation to the 
Revolution and the publication of 
its results; by the preservation 
of documents and relics and of 
the records of individual services 
of Revolutionary soldiers and pa- 
triots, and by the promotion of 
celebrations of all patriotic anni- 
versaries. 

(2) To carry out the injunc- 



120 



tion of Washing-ton in his fare- 
well address to the American 
people, "To promote as an ob- 
ject of primary importance, in- 
stitutions for the general diffu- 
sion of knowledge," thus devel- 
oping an enlightened opinion, 
and affording to young and old 
such advantages as shall develop 
in them the largest capacity for 
performing- the duties of Ameri- 
can citizens. 

(3) To cherish, maintain, and 
to extend the institutions of 
American freedom, to foster 
true patriotism and love of coun- 
try and to aid in securing for 
mankind all the blessings of lib- 
erty." 

"Another thing I wish to im- 
press upon all here to-day is the 
fact that ours is the only society 
professing to be founded exclu- 
sively upon our Revolutionary 
struggle that recognizes the Bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant as a part of 
the war for American indepen- 
dence. Reputable historians, in- 
cluding Bancroft, President 
Roosevelt and others have as- 
serted that it was'the initial, the 
first battle of the Revolutionary 
war. Moreover, they have pro- 
duced the indisputable evidence 
upon which the assertion is bas- 
ed. What the concensus of 
American opinion will be as the 
years shall roll on and historical 
research shall bring- to light the - 
whole truth, we cannot say. If 
the verdict shall be the affirma- 



tive of that proposition then the 
first battle shall not be lacking 
in display of heroism and pa- 
triotism, exhibited in the midst 
of an almost interminable wilder- 
ness and hand to hand with a 
savage and at the same time 
valorous foe.° 

"The memory of that great 
struggle, will we think, be well 
and fittingly, preserved upon 
these grounds. A splendid and 
enduring monument is to be 
erected commemorative of the 
battle. On some part of it will 
be a bronze statute of the heroic 
Andrew Lewis, the commanding 
general. On it will be inscribed 
in imperishable letters the 
names of the brave- Col. Chas. 
Lewis and Col. Fields and all 
those who fell with them in de- 
fense of liberty and the homes of 
our race. On these grounds 
will be laid down and preserved 
the outlines of old Fort Ran- 
dolph. 

Without some reference to the 
stubborn foe which drew the 
brilliant flash of fire from the 
steel of these heroes, in the 
shades of primeval forests, far 
from the abode of any white 
man, this history written in 
grounds, stone, marble and 
bronze would be incomplete. 
The red men were fighting for 
their homes and hunting 
grounds. From their stand- 
point, their conduct was patri- 



121 



otic. They were defending the 
graves of their fathers." 

"To the end, therefore, that 
history, as far as possible, may 
be fully preserved and patri- 
otism, in its broadest sense may 
be recognized, it has been decid- 
ed to give this park the oldest 
— first name it has ever been 
known to possess — its Indian 
name. By authority of the Mon- 
ument Commission appointed by 
the Governor of this state, and 
in the name of the Society of the 
Daughters of the American Rev- 
olution, we now dedicate this 
park, the property of the State 
of West Virginia, to patriotism 
and the preservation of history 
and name it * 'Tu-Endie-Wei 
Park," which signifies in the 
Shawnee tongue "the mingling of 
waters," this being the junc- 
tion of two rives. " 

Mr. Hogg next introduced Col. 
Bennett H. Young, of Louisville, 
Ky., who had been previously in- 
vited to address the Assembly, 
and no happier selection could 
have been made. The people as 
a unit fell in love with the man. 
He talked directly to their hearts, 
and we fortunately secured his 
speech which is reproduced in 
this issue of the State Gazette. 
Col. Young also loaned, for the 
occasion, his pioneer suit, which 
consisted of a hunting shirt and 
flint lock gun which had belong- 
ed to Daniel Boone, which he 
had completed by the addition of 



a u long knife, " leather breetches 
and a coon skin cap. Herman 
Snyder was selected to wear the 
suit, being smooth shaved and cor- 
responding in weight and height 
to Daniel Boone." 

"Col. Young was followed by 
our poet laureate, Louis Reed 
Campbell, who recited in splen- 
did style his poem, written for 
the occasion: 

OUR HEROES. 
Grave by grave, where the rivers meet, and 
gently flow, 
The patriot sleeps, and by his side a van- 
quished silent foe. 
Year on year with wondrous swiftness glid- 
ed by, 

And yet no stone was reared where brave 
men dared to die 

Time's hand was in the game that drove the 

Indian from his land, 
In it the shadow of a wrong that greed 

could not withstand, 
More than a century gone ere right doth o'er 

wrong prevail, 
Alike we honor, now, who faced the 

feathered shaft and rifles' deadly hail. 

Departed chieftan of a mighty race, so soon 
to disappear! 
What does the future hold, save memory, 
softened by a tear? 
For even now adown the changing slope of 
fleeting time 
The painted warrior glides away, to leave 
no trail behind. 

No power can dim the luster now of that vic- 
torious band, 
Who fought and fell and fired again 
where now we stand. 

If fairness to the foe is due, what honor must 
be theirs. 

Whose names too sacred for an eulogy, 
drift upward with our prayers." 

The following is taken from 
the Point Pleasant Observer of 
October 17, 1901,: 

"TU- EN DIE-WEI PARK." 
A Great Outpouring- of the Peo- 
ple at , its Dedication Last 
Thursday. A Gala Day 
For Point Pleasant. 
•'We have not space to tell of 
the big celebration on Thursday 
the 10th. This means that if we 



122 



were ■ to take up every inch of 
space in the whole paper we 
could not tell all about it. So we 
will have to tell a little about it 
and let the rest go." 

"Day dawned bright and clear 
with never a cloud to remind one 
of the little sprinkle of the night 
before, The town was pro- 
fusely decorated with flags and 
bunting. The first signal ot 
the coming dawn was announc- 
ed by the watchman on the 
site of Old fort Randolph, who 
was in charge of the relics, firing 
the morning gun. Immediatley 
after this the church bells begun 
to ring, say at 5 o'clock, and the 
mill whistles and those of the 
steamboats began to blow until 
not only everybody in town, 
but every one within five miles 
of the town, was wide awake. 

By eight o'clock, the country 
people were pouring into town 
in streams from every direction. 
All roads led to Point Pleasant 
and all roads were full. At half 
past nine the trains began to 
pour their loads into town and 
by 10 o'clock the crowd was var- 
iously estimated from 6,000 to 
10,000 people. At 10 o'clock 
Col. J. P. R. B. Smith began to 
form the huge mass of people in- 
to a line of march and even with 
his able assistants it was an 
Herculean task. Finally the 
parade was formed and headed 
by Col. James Somerville and a 
platoon of police followed by 



Grand Marshall J. P. R. B. 
Smith, the large procession mov- 
ed over the principal streets of 
the town and at last ended at the 
beautiful park at the junction of 
the two rivers." 

"The parade consisted of the 
town officers in carriages, citi- 
zens in carriages, citizens on 
horseback, people on foot, the 
children of the public schools, 
both white and colored, some in 
wagons and some on foot, with 
three brass bands, interspersed 
at regular intervals, and all in- 
terspersed with display made 
by our merchants until the 
whole presented a scene of beau- 
ty. Merchants from other towns 
who inform the newspaper peo- 
ple of Point Pleasant that it does 
no good to advertise here were 
also glad to have a place in the 
big parade and were not asham- 
ed to be the lustiest howlers for 
Point Pleasant's big day." 

After the people had gotten 
something to eat they again as- 
sembled at the park and were 
called to order by J. P. R. B. 
Smith who -called Hon. C. E. 
Hogg one of this district's dis- 
tinguished ex-congressmen to 
the chair. Mr. Hogg after a 
short but eloquent address in- 
troduced Mrs. George Poffen- 
barger, Regent of Col. Chas. 
Lewis chapter of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution who, 
in a short address, and by au- 
thority of the Monument Com- 



123 



missions named the beautiful plot 
of ground "Tue-Endie-Wei" 
Park, "Tue-Endie-Wei" in the 
Sbawnee language meaning 
6< the mingling- of the waters." 

Chairman Hogg next introduc- 
ed Col. Bennet H. Young of 
Louisville, Ky., after which 
Louis Reed Campbell recited an 
original poem written for the oc- 
casion entitled "Our Heroes." 
Next followed Gen. Chas. H. 
Grosvener, of Ohio, who deliver- 
ed a characteristic Grosvener ad- 
dress. The program of the day 
was concluded by the burial of 
the remains of "MAD ANN 
BAILEY,'* which had been dis- 
interred from their resting place 
of 76 years and brought here for 
burial, thus carrying out her de- 
sire, expressed more than three 
quarters of a century ago, to be 
buried on Virginia soil." 

"The museum contained large 
number of historic relics which 
held the interest of the vast 
crowd from early morn to the 
leaving time of the late train and 
steamboat in the evening." 

The Huntington Advertizer of 
October 11, 1901, said. 

"The Huntingtonians who vis- 
. ited Point Pleasant yesterday 
returned last evening happy 
over the exercises of the day." 

"It was the proudest and most 
memorable in the life of that his- 
toric community. Amid anas 
sembly of ten thousand persons, 



many of whom had come half 
way across the continent to be 
present, the beautiful grove at 
the junction of the Kanawha and 
Ohio rivers, was for ever dedicat- 
ed to the memory of the gallant 
Virginians who, one hundred 
and twenty-seven years ago, 
gave to the world the first mani- 
festation of that valor, which in 
after years, broke the power of 
Great Britain and made this con- 
tinent the abiding place of civil 
liberty." 

"No spot in the Ohio valley is 
so full of historical significance 
as the old town of Point Pleasant. 
No spot will be more beautiful 
when the towering granite shaft, 
to be erected at an estimated 
cost of forty thousand dollars, 
shall greet the eye of the strang- 
er as he approaches this true 
cradle of American liberty." 

Quoting from the Gallia Times 
of October 9th, we find. 

''Much interest is being taken 
by the Point Pleasant people in 
the coming anniversary of the 
Indian battle fought there. 
This was on October 10, 1774, or 
127 years ago, and, on this day 
the power of the Red Men in the 
Kanawha and Ohio Valleys was 
wrested from them. The day 
should long be remembered and 
we believe will be fittingly cele- 
brated by our neighbor city." 

The Gallipolis Journal of Octo- 
ber 9th, said. 



124 



-BATTLE 
Of Point Pleasant will be 
Celebrated on 
Thursday next." 

"Our neighbors across the 
river are making extensive prep- 
arations for the celebration of 
the battle of Point Pleasant, the 
first conflict of the Revolution- 
on Thursday Oct. 10. It was in 
1774 that the most desperate In- 
dian battle on record was fought 
between the confederated Indian 
tribes, under the celebrated 
chief. Cornstalk, and the Vir- 
ginia Militia under command 
of Gen. Andrew Lewis. " 

''There will be a relic display 
and a big parade. The old log 
mansion that has stood in three 
centuries will be among the 
other relics of primitive days. 
Gen. Grosvener and Col. Bennett 
Young, of Louisville, one of Ken- 
tucky's most magnetic speakers, 
will be present at the celebration. 
The remains of Ann Bailey, the 
heroine of the revolution, have 
been disinterred and will be con- 
signed to their new resting place 
on Thursday. There will be 
three bands and a most interest- 
ing program and the 10th prom- 
ises to be an eventful day at 
Point Pleasant" 

The following is from the 
Weekly Register, of Point Pleas- 
ant, W. Va., under date of Oc- 
ober 17, 1901. 

"THE CELEBRATION. 
Of the One Hundred and Twen- 



ty-Seventh Anniversary of the 
Battle of Point Pleasant. Thous- 
ands of Visitors Within our 
Gates. The Celebration a Suc- 
cess in Every Particular and the 
day will be long remembered by 
all present." 

"Despite the cloudy weather 
and rain of Wednesday, Thurs- 
day morning, October 10th, 1901, 
dawned with the old Sol, and a 
twinkle in his eye, to the gratifi- 
cation of the committees in 
charge and the citizens of our 
little city in general, for clear 
and favorable weather meant for 
the celebration of the first battle 
of the Revolution, (fought at 
Point Pleasant on October 10, 
1774, between the whites under 
command of Colonel Charles 
Lewis, aud the Indians,) un- 
bounded and unprecedented suc- 
cess. 

The committees in charge of 
this, the 127th anniversary of 
this great battle, have been earn- 
est workers to accomplish this 
end, and deserve much credit for 
their untiring efforts. 

The genial Marshall in chief, 
Colonel J. P. R. B. Smith and his 
assistants, handled the big 
parade which was formed in the 
first ward in a manner credita- 
ble to a general with an army of 
100,000. 

In the parade was a represen- 
tation of all our business people, 
the children of our public schools 
turning out in full, dressed in 



125 



national colors, companies of 
horsemen, the fire department, 
the hook and ladder company, 
% and everything 1 and every body 
to make up a grand trades dis- 
play the like of which has never 
before been seen in Point Pleas- 
ant." 

"To say the town wasgaly dec- 
orated with bunting-, flags, &c, 
is not necessary, for the emblem 
of our great nation was never so 
profusely displayed as on this 
occasion." 

"The park at the confluence of 
the Ohio and Kanawha rivers 
where the monument to com- 
memorate this great battle will 
be erected, has been put in the 
best proper shape, and was 
thronged with visitors and sight- 
seers throughout the day." 

"The old house, considerably 
over a hundred years old, which 
was converted into a museum 
and filled with relics, was the 
most interesting feature of the 
occasion. " 

"The ladies in charge of the 
museum are commended by our 
citizens and visitors upon the 
manner in which this "relic 
store" was conducted, and the 
courtesies accorded all." 

"A collection of relics, such as 
Indian implements of warfare, 
old pictures, dishes, dresses, 
jewelry and many other articles 
too numerous to mention, are 
not seen by one g-eneration more 



than once, and one who missed 
this treat is at loss to know or 
conceive the manner in which 
these old settlers lived and had 
their being-. Bands of music de- 
lighted the visitors and the day 
was one of joy from morning un- 
til night. The crowd was order- 
ly well behaved and jolly. No 
congreg-ation of human beings 
had a more joyous time for one 
day, than did this one." 

"After the parade, which mov- 
ed at noon, and which was never 
surpassed as a trades display in 
this place, had disbanded and 
the throng- of people had dined, 
the speaking at the park began." 

"Hon. Chas. E. Hogg, one of 
West Virginia's most eloquent 
orators, had charge of the cere- 
monies at the speaker's stand, 
and his introductory remarks 
were well received. Mr. Hogg 
never fails to please and enlight- 
en his hearer, and at the conclu- 
sion of his remarks introduced 
Mrs. Judg-e Poffenbarg-er, who 
opened the speaking with an ad- 
dress listened to by the throng 
of people with marked attention, 
and which was eloquent and in- 
structive." 

"Col. Bennett Young, of Jassa- 
mine County, Kentucky, mem- 
ber of Congress from his dis- 
trict, was introduced and to say 
his address was eloquent, logical 
and interesting, is but a triffle, 
for the marked attention of bis 
hearers was undisturbed. He 



126 



is a fluent speaker and one would 
never tire listening to him." 

"Next to be introduced was Mr. 
Lewis Reed Campbell, who re- 
cited a beautiful poem entitled 
''Our Heroes." This was one 
of the most beautiful, and being- 
prepared as it was, only a few 
hours before the hour for deliv- 
ery, places our young friend at 
the maximum. The manner in 
which this beautiful poem was 
delivered was pleasing in the ex- 
treme and delighted the im- 
mense crowd who listened with 
marked attention." 

"Gen. Chas. H. Grosvener, of 
Ohio, was next introduced, who 
made, as all know, an address 
second to none. The General 
is one of Ohio's influential and 
honored sons, and when he ap- 
peared on the speaker's stand, a 
smile of pleasure and gratifica- 
tion covered every face in the 
audience. General Grosvener's 
remarks were listened to atten- 
tively, and his eulogy to our 
martyred President, was pa- 
thetic. Concluding his remarks, 
General Grosvener said it would 
be well for Great Britain, had 
she a commander like "Corn- 
stalk" at the head of her forces 
in South Africa, which was met 
with a round of applause." 

"Space and time will not permit 
us to report this celebration as 
we would like to, but those who 
were here had a good time, en- 
joyed themselves and left our 



little city with the wish to soon 
return. " 

"The short-comings of our re- 
port of this big day are attribut- 
ed to the absence of the editor in 
chief, and had he been at the 
helm, our "chases" would not 
have held the flow from his pen 
and our "machines" would have 
been sorely overtaxed." 

The Mail Tribune, Charleston, 
W. Va., Oct. 12, 1901, says: 
"POINT PLEASANT 
Celebrates Important Anniver- 
sary. Remarkable Demon- 
stration in Honor 

of the 
Famous Battle. 
Col. Bennet Young, of Ky., and 
Gen. Grosvener, of Ohio, 
Principal Speakers." 

"Point Pleasant, W. Va , Oct. 
10th, 1901 was the proudest 
and most memorable in the 
life of this historic community. 
Before an assembly of 10,000 
persons, many of whom had 
come half way across the conti- 
nent to be present, when the 
beautiful grounds at the junc- 
ture of the Kanawha and Ohio 
rivers was for ever dedicated to 
the memory of the gallant Vir- 
ginians, who, 127 years ago 
gave the first manifestation 
of that valor which, in after 
years, broke the power of 
Great Britain and made this 
continent the abiding place of 
civil liberty." 

"No spot in the Ohio Valley is 



127 



so full of historic significance as 
this old town of Point Pleasant, 
and no spot will be more beauti- 
ful when the towering- granite 
shaft to be erected at an estimate 
of $50,000.00, shall greet the eye 
of the stranger as he approaches 
this true cradle of liberty." 

"Gen. Chas. H. Gresvener, of 
Ohio, in his speech, said in part: 

"It is pleasant on this October 
day to reflect that here on the 
banks of the beautiful Ohio, 
then so remote from the center 
and homes of our ancestors as to 
be terra incognita to the peo- 
ple of our country and of the 
world there should have been 
struck that which turned out to 
be the first great blow for Ameri- 
can Independence and American 
Liberty. Figure it as you may, 
the battle whose anniversary we 
here today celebrate was the 
first real blow of the Revolution- 
ary War. Nobody so understood 
it. Grant that; who understood 
what was to flow from Lexington 
or Concord or even from Bunker 
Hill? What was the name of the 
man who foresaw when the 
spring time grass of Massachu- 
setts was reddened with the 
blood of patriots at Lexington 
that the blood was to sanctify 
the soil and result in the rights 
of the people for self govern- 
ment. Lord Dunmore was loyal 
to the source from which he de- 
rived his official dignity and 
official position" He was how- 



ever, as appears by the records, 
not quite the open manly frank 
man that Americans love to rec- 
ognize and honor. When he 
came to the mouth of the Big 
Hock-hocking river, under prom- 
ise to join the troops that he 
supposed were subordinate to 
him, he failed to join them for 
the manifest purpose of weaken- 
ing their forces and thus enable 
the Indians to overcome the set- 
tlers. While he was not acting 
that manly, open and above 
board part which Americans love 
to honor and recognize, but if 
the reports are true and conclu- 
sions are allowable, Lord Dun- 
more was guilty of an act of the 
basest treachery and a manifest 
purpose of the most inhuman 
outrage. But it cannot be lost 
sight of that even in this, shame- 
ful as his conduct was, he was 
acting in furtherance of his pur- 
poses to aid the government to 
which he owed allegiance. It 
may be that in his horoscope he 
saw the coming of the overthrow 
of British power in the colonies 
and the organization of a new 
government and the stripping of 
the British Crown of all it held 
so dear in the United States. 
However, much we may con- 
demn, from the standpoint of 
our own sympathy, all and sin- 
gular in their behalf, there is 
nevertheless more or less of mi- 
tigation of wrong and treachery 
and double dealing in the fact 



128 



that he was doing- it all in behalf 
of the country and sovereignty to 
which he owed allegiance. The 
colonies were proposing to fight 
for mitigation of the wrongs of 
unequal and unjust taxation and 
the refusal to them of the right 
of representation in the British 
law making body and yet out of 
that little movement which I 
have shown was only for the 
mitigation of wrong, came this 
the great idea, so suddenly de- 
veloped, of independence, and 
from it has come all the glory of 
a mighty and united country." 

While William Hunter, an em- 
inent Ohio writer, of the Chili- 
cothie Advertiser, says: 

"It give us pleasure to note 
that the battle of Point Pleasant 
is called the first battle of the 
Revolutionary War by tohse who 
are celebrating the anniversary, 
although questioned by New En- 
gland historians who seem to be- 
lieve that the whole war was 
fought in a radius of twenty miles 
of Boston, and the most has been 
made of every little skirmish in 
that region, while the battles in 
the Western country are not 
even mentioned." 

State Historian V. A. Lewis 
again says, in the West Virginia 
Historical Magazine, of the bat- 
tle. 

"It is the greatest event in the 
colonial period and stands just 
at its close. With it the Revolu- 
tionary Period begins. Hence 



the battle is as it were the con- 
necting link between two of the 
great periods in all American 
History. Closing as it does the 
one, and opening the other. 

Edward Ingle, writing in the 
Manufacturer's Record, in No- 
vember, 1901, on the Preserva- 
tion of Virginia's Antiquities, 
says: 

"Andrew Lewis, not a Virgin- 
ian, but yet a type of the rear- 
guard of the Revolution, fought 
successfully at Point Pleasant 
in 1774, that which was really the 
first battle of that struggle and a 
battle far reaching in its signifi- 
cant results." 

While a bill introduced by Sen- 
ator Scott passed the Senate in 
1905, carrying an appropriation, 
Senator Scott wrote and offered 
his personal check for one thous- 
and dollars with which to erect 
the monument if the commission 
would abandon the idea of secur- 
ing aid from the National Con- 
gress. A hasty conference of 
friends of the movement was 
held and the offer declined, as 
the agitators of the monument 
building were not only anxious 
that the Government should ap- 
propriate adequate funds, but 
that it should officially recognize 
the battle as one of those of the 
Revolution; so the offer of Sena- 
tor Scott was politely declined. 
Congressman Hughes pressed 
the passage of the bill at that 
time in the lower house of Con- 



129 



gress. Hon. J. T. McCleary, 
Chairman of the Committee to 
which the bill was referred, 
wrote a letter to Mr. Hughes, as 
follows: 

"As I advised you yesterday, 
the committee adopted a policy 
more than a year ago as its policy 
for this Congress, that of making- 
no appropriations for monuments 
to be erected outside of Washing- 
ton." 

The monument commission as- 
sisted by Mrs. Poffenbarger, 
then hastened to Charleston, 
where the Legislature was then 
in . session, and the Charleston 
Mail gives, in part, the following: 

■-'Mrs, Livia Simpson-Poffen- 
barger arrived here Thursday 
from her home at Point Pleasant, 
to aid in securing- an appropria- 
tion ior a Point Pleasant 
Battle Monument. She has at- 
tended a part of two former ses- 
sions of the Legislature for the 
same purpose. When seen by 
a Mail reporter in the office of 
her husband Judge George Pof- 
fenbarger, of the Supreme 
Court, she said in response to 
the question, when asked what 
the prospect for an appropria- 
tion is?" 

"It is the first time I have ever 
believed we would get an appro- 
priation when it was asked for. x 
I believe now we are going to get 
it. We expect to get a recom- 
mendation for an appropriation 
through the Joint Finance Com- 



mittee, and if we get a favorable 
report from the committee we 
have "crossed the Alps'' for 
there is positively no opposition 
to it this year outside of whether 
or not there will be available 
funds." . 

"What amount have you asked 
for, Mrs. Poffenbarger?" 

"I had a most courteous hear- 
ing before the committee who 
had previously heard the mem- 
bers of the Monument Com- 
mittee and I asked for $25,000,00, 
payable $5,000.00 annually." 

"But can the state make an ap- 
propriation coverning five 
years?" ,.. 

"No, but they can for two and 
the appropriation may be for a 
monument not to exceed $25,000.- 
00 expense to the state of West 
Virginia, $5,00.00 of which is 
available now and $5,000.00 next 
year, and the rest may be im- 
plied, as in the case of the appro- 
priation made for the West Vir- 
ginia Hospital at a cost of $80,- 
000, $10,000.00 of which was 
available when appropriated." 

Here followed the history of 
the effort made for the erection 
of a monument. 

Mrs. Poffenbarger telegragh- 
ed her paper- 

"Charleston, W. Va., 

February 28, 1905. 
The State Gazette— 

The Senate at 6:30 P. M. pass- 
ed an amendent to the Appropri- 



130 



ation Bill of $2,500.00 for this year 
and $2,500.00 for 1906. The bill 
still has to go back to the Mouse 
for concurrence and if it fails 
there, will go to a conference 
commitee. " 

The amendment was offered 
by Senator E. S. McCown, of the 
Fourth Senatorial District. His 
speech was one of his best ef- 
forts while Senator Darst work- 
ed heart and soul for the appro- 
priation. The amendment failed 
to pass the house, but was saved 
in the Joint Conference com- 
mittee where by herculean work 
the building of a battle monu- 
ment at Point Pleasant was as- 
sured. The state had once 
again assumed the responsibility 
and every year since the Legis- 
lature has appropriated money 
with which to build the monu- 
ment. Except this appropria- 
tion for 1906 and 1907, all has 
been vetoed except that of 
$1,000.00 made in 1909, because 
of lack of funds as announced 
by Governor Dawson. 

Feb, 15, 1906, Hon. James A. 
Hughes, who was pressing Con- 
gress for an appropriation for 
funds with which to build the 
monument wrote as follows from 
Washington : 

Mrs. LiviaSimpson-Poffenbarger 
Point Pleasant, W. Va. 
I am in receipt of a letter from 
Mr. Austin who states that it is 
the opinion of the Monument 



Committee of your place that the 
amount asked for be reduced 
from $50,000.00 to $10,000.00." 

"The amount carried in the bill 
does not amount to anything as 
the committee would only appro- 
priate such an amount as they 
saw fit and would be governed by 
the wishes of the committee. I 
will introduce another bill carry- 
ing $10,000.00 instead of $50,000.- 
00 as in the present bill. I had a 
talk with Mr. McCleary, and he 
told me that the committee still 
had under consideration the ad- 
visability of whether they would 
make any appropriations outside 
of the City of Washington. 
So far, they have not come to any 
conclusion. I had a talk with 
Senator Scott in regard to this 
appropriation and he doubted 
very much whether they would 
make any appropriation outside 
the City of Washington and he 
advises that this monument 
should be erected and that it 
should be done by private sub- 
scription and in addition to what 
the State had already appropri- 
ated he said he would be glad to 
head the list with a private sub- 
scription." 

"Now I want to advise you 
frankly about this, if the Libra- 
ry Committee of the House re- 
fuses to make any appropria- 
tions for monuments, outside of 
the City of Washington, I think 
it will be useless to press the 
matter further, and I think it 



131 



would be well to consider the 
suggestion of Senator Scott. 

I will be glad to hear from you 
in reference to the matter. 
Very truly yours, 

J. A. Hughes." 

To the above letter, Mrs. Pof- 
fenbarger replied: 

"We do not ask that the Con- 
gress of the United States build 
the Battle Monument at Point 
Pleasant because the funds can- 
not be raised by private sub- 
scription or secured as an ap- 
propriation from the State of 
West Virginia, but because we 
want the Government to official- 
ly recognize the batttle as it was 
in truth a battle of the Revolu- 
tion, indeed, the First Battle of 
the Revolution, and no matter 
how insignificant the approation, 
if the bill correctly states its 
status we will be content to raise 
the money necessary as best we 
can, although we want as large 
an appropriation as we can get. 
While we appreciate the generosi- 
ty of Senator Scott, should he do- 
nate the entire amount necessary 
it would fail in our main purpose 
of having the government official- 
ly credit the battle the honor it 
deserves and we will have again 
to decline his offer and insist 
that you both press the matter 
before Congress so vigorously as 
to ultimately bring: the desired 
result. Again thanking you and 
Senator Scott for your past ef- 



forts and expecting renewed 
zeal, I am 

Very truly 
Livia Simpson- Poffenbarger." 

That the Congress of the Un- 
ited States was still importuned 
is evidenced by the fact that on 
December 4, 1907, Senator N. B. 
Scott introduced Senate Bill 160 
which was favorably reported 
February 17. 1908, without 
amendment, as follows: 

"A BILL to aid in the erection 
of a monument or memorial at 
Point Pleasant, West Virginia, 
to commemorate the Battle of 
the Revolution fought at that 
point between the Colonial troops 
and Indians October tenth, 
seventeen hundred and seventy- 
four." 

An identical bill was introduc- 
ed in the lower House of Con- 
gress by Hon. James A. Hughes. 

A Telegram, as follows, 
brought the first intelligence to 
Point Pleasant that the bill had 
passed both branches of Con- 
gress: 

Mrs. LiviaSimpson-Poffenbarger 
Congress appropriated $10,- 
000.00 for a battle monument at 
Point Pleasant Congratulations. 

James A. Hughes. 
Washington, D. C." 

The Monument Commission 
got busy and realizing that the 
introduction of new methods of 
monument building, lasting as 



132 



the pyramids of Egypt, had 
been introduced, by which the 
monument could be built with the 
money available, a contract was 
let for the monument at a cost at 
the factory of $15, 000.00, the 
shipment and erection of which 
would make a total cost of S16,- 
000. The monument to be built 
of Balfour granite, the statue 
thereon to be of Westerly gran- 
ite. The shaft is an obelisk 
with a base twenty -four feet 
square, the height to be eighty- 
two feet. The statue is to be 
that of a colonial soldier of the 
primitive Virginia style, dressed 
in hunting shirt, coon skin cap, 
leather breeches and long rifle. 
The whole to be completed for 
the unveiling of the monument 
on the One Hundred and Thirty- 
fifth anniversary of the battle of 
Point Pleasant, October, 10, 
1909. 

The Monument Commission 
on June 10, 1909, issued the fol- 
lowing announcement: 

"ATTENTION CITIZENS. 

A general invitation is extend- 
ed for a citizen's meeting at the 
Court House at Point Pleasant 
on Thursday June 10th at 8 P. 
M. to make preparations for the 
celebration of the Battle of Point 
Pleasant, the unveiling of the 
monument and Home Coming 
Week, under the auspices of the 
Mayor and Civil Authority of the 
town of Point Pleasant, and in- 



terested citizens of the town, 
county and state. 
Signed, 

John P. Austin, 
President of the Monument 
Committee." 

There was a large and enthus- 
iastic meeting held in response 
to the call. Judge John Lamar 
Whitten, Mayor of the town, who 
presided, was elected as the 
permanent chairman of arrange- 
ments for a West Virginia Home 
Coming Week, Celebration of the 
Battle and Unveiling of the Mon- 
ument, October 7-8-9-10, 1909. 
The others appointed to further 
the success of the proper ob- 
servance of the battle were the 
following Committees in charge 
of the Celebration. 

Organization. 

Crairman, Mayor John L. 
Whitten. 

Secretary, E. Jacob Somerville. 

Asst. Secretary, Warren C. 
Whaley. 

Grand Marshall, Col. John P. 
R. B. Smith. 

Assistants, Lewis C. Somer- 
ville, Peter Higgins Steenbergen, 
Edward Barto Jones. 

Committee at Large. 

Hon. John P. Austin, Presi- 
dent Monument Commission; 
Monument Commissioners, Hon. 
V. A. Lewis and Mr. C. C. Bow- 
yer; Mayor, Judge John L. Whit- 
ten- Col. John P. R. B. Smith and 



133 



Mrs. Livia Nye Simpson-Poffen 
barg-er. 

Finance Committee. 

Joseph Friedman, Chairman, 
Peter Higgins Steenbergen, Ed- 
ward E. Thomas, Peter S. Lewis, 
Griff T. Smith, Tol Stribling, 
Hon. J. Samuel Spencer, John G. 
Stortz, Point Pleasant; R. J. Pat- 
terson, Maggie; William R. 
Thompson, Hunting-ton; Charles 
Cameron Lewis, Jr., Ex-Gover- 
nor Win. A. McCorkle, Hon. Jno. 
Q. Dickenson, Charleston; Ex- 
Governor A. B. Fleming, Fair- 
mont. 

Invitation Committee 

Governor Wm. E. Glasscock, 
Senator Stephen B. Elkics, Sena- 
tor Nathan B. Scott, Hon. James 
A. Hughes, Judge Ira E. Robin- 
son, Judge George Poffenbarger 
of West Virginia; Col. H. R. 
Howard, John E. Beller, Robert 
E. Mitchell, B. H. Blagg-, Andrew 
Lewis Boggess, Charles C. Lew- 
is, H. Green Nease, Hon. George 
W. Cossin, James M. H. Beale, 
Hon. J. Samuel Spencer 
Judge John W. Eng-lish, 
Judge Wm. A. Parsons, Point 
Pleasant; Hon. E. O. Randall, 
Columbus, Ohio; Hon. W. Sid- 
ney Laidley, William Burdette 
Mathews, Charles C. Lewis, Sr., 
John Q. Dickenson of Charleston; 
Gen'l. Charles H. Grosvenor and 
Hon. Jerry Longfellow Carpen- 
ter, Athens, Ohio; Hon, Edmond 
Sehon, Dr. Lewis V. Guthrie 



and Louis Sehon Pomeroy, of 
Huntington. 

Trades Display 

Robert J. Heslop, Charles K. 
Blackwood, Charles E. Jones, 
David S. Snyder, James Walter 
Winden, Mark Shiflet, Horton 
Roseberry, Joseph W. Rhoades, 
Will Filson, John C. Franklin, 
Ed. Lawhead, H. H. Henry, 
C. Frederick Hess, Captain 
C. Homer V a r i a n, Rob- 
ert Kiger, James Stephenson, 
George Miller, John Wells, Geo. 
W. M. Hooff, Alexander B. Mc- 
Culloch, James Cavenaugh, 
James B. Tippett, F. B. Tippett. 
Lemuel Shiflet, Hugo Juhling, 
Jr., Bertram L. Burdette, Frank 
Fadley, Enos B. Thomas, H. W. 
Ellis, Dr. Ed McElfresh, Jacob 
P. Hetherington, L. J. Coley, 
Peter C. McDade, W. A. Wil- 
liams, Harry M. Langley. 

Decoratior and Speakers Stand 

Frank Filson, B. Franklin, Jr., 
Charles Russell McCulloch, Wm. 
H. H. Gardner, J. Floyd Burdett, 
S. Waldo Swisher, Alonzo Walk- 
er, Enos, C. Winger, John W. C. 
Heslop, Ed A. Arrington, Ed- 
ward W. Craig, Geo. P. Gardner, 
Wm. Tully, John Love, Sam'l 
Lutton, Fredrick Capes, Charles 
Dashner, G. E. Mathews, Mes- 
dames Harry E. Burnside, Wm. 
Steenbergen, Robert E. Mitchell, 
Edward McElfresh, Rush H. 
Burnside, Edward J Burnside, 
Lem Shiflet, Samantha J. Baum, 
Wm. Steinbach, Mrs. M. Fried- 



134 



man, Mrs. Kate Williams, Mrs. 
J. W. English, Mrs. Robert P. 
Lynch, Mrs. Ella Fenton, Mrs. 
Horton Roseberry, Mrs, E. H. 
Woelffel, Mrs. Wm. Kenny, Mrs. 

E. H. Armstrong, Mrs. H. A. 
Barbee, Mrs. James B. Tippett, 
Mrs. Wm. C. Stortz, Mrs. J. 

F. Burdett, Mrs. B. Franklin, Jr., 
Mrs. George Comstock, Mrs. 
Joseph H. Holloway, Mrs. Asha- 
bel Hughes, Misses Edith Tip- 
pett, Maud Kisar, Reba Beale, 
Hattie Price, Mary Lewis, Venie 
and Jessie Thomas, Mrs. Homer 
Smith, Mrs. E. B. Jones, Mrs. 
Wm. E. Hayman, Mrs. W. C. 
Whaley, Mrs". Tol Stribling. 

Advertising Committee 

Homer Smith, Dr. W. P. 
Neale, Marcus Friedman, War- 
ren C. Whalev, Charles C. Lewis, 
Edward C. Berridge, Dr. Ed. 
McElfresh, John F. Lewis and 
James B. Tippett. 

Entertainment Committee 

Griff T. Smith, Howard L. 
Robey, Lesley L. Neale, Geo. C. 
Somerville, Dr. Frank V. Butch- 
er, Ed Filson, Wm. Steinbach, 
Howard Long, Geo. W. Long, 
John L. Hutchinson, E. H. 
Woelffel, W. W. Riley, R. P. 
Liter, Lem Shifiet Jr., Point 
Pleasant; John D. Lewis, Phil 
Walker, John Baker White, 
Charleston; Lycergus N. Knight 
Maggie; M. G. Tyler, H. E. Spil- 
man, Dr. Richard Stone, Spilman, 
Dr. Charles Petty, Hartford; 
Mesdames John Samuel Spencer. 



Charies Clendenin Bowyer, John 
L. Whitten, Charles C. Lewis, 
John Daniel McCulloch, H. Greea 
Nease, John W, C. Heslop, 
L. J. Williamson, Rankin Wiley, 
John McCulloch, Frank Fil- 
son, Wm. P. Neale, Peter Hig- 
gins Steenbergen, Hiram R. 
Howard, J. H. Wade, Jackson 
Lee Pannel, Charles Russell Mc- 
Culloch, James W. Windon, Pat- 
rick F. Ryan, John P. Austin, 
Robert P. Liter, Howard L. 
Robey, E. Barto Jones, Joseph 
Friedman, E. B. Sisler, B. Frank- 
lin, Jr., E. E. Thomas, Mary 
Margaret Bryan, Homer Smith, 
Ben Franklin, Sr , S. W. Swish- 
er, Walter Lincoln; Misses 
Josephine Howard, Irene Bow- 
yer, Lillie Lee Hogg, Elizabeth 
Harding Hogg, Julia Polsley, 
Ada Gilmore, Cordelia Smith, 
V e v a Haptonstall, Margaret 
Lynn Neale, Gertrude Howard, 
Edith Tippett, Venie and Jessie 
Thomas, Kate Stribling, Lena 
L. Roseberry, of Point Pleas- 
ants; Mrs. Geo. W. Gist and 
Miss Maggie Hayman, Le- 
tart; Mrs. W. L. Lawson and 
Miss May Jackson, New Haven; 
Mrs. M. M. Brown, Mrs. D. E. 
Newton, Hartford; Mrs. Joseph 
H. Windon, Maggie; Mrs. V. A. 
Lewis, Mrs. W. E. Ruttencutter, 
Mrs. L. E. Bletner, Misses 
Maud and Annie Lewis, Mason; 
Mesdames John McCoach, Ed- 
mond Sehon, Columbus Sehon, 
Taylor Vinson, Wm. R. Thomp- 



135 



son, Mary Lesage, Margaret 
Lynn Harvey, C. R. Thompson 
and James A. Hughes, Hunting- 
ton; Mrs. Kate Sterrett, Mrs. 
Win. H. Vaught, Mrs. John 
Thornberg, Five Mile; Mrs. M. 
Ella Hutchinson, Henderson; 
Miss Lizzie Smith, McCausland; 
Miss Francis M. Maupin, Ar- 
buckle; Mrs. Charles E. Mc- 
Culloch, Five Mile; Miss Rhoda 
Long, Mrs. Monroe Poffenbar- 
ger, South Side; Mrs. C. A. 
Green, Otia; Mrs. James Hen- 
derson, Five Mile; Dr. A. G. 
Martin, F. M. Middleton, Win- 
field; Dr. C. McGill, Red 
House; Robert Brown, O. F. 
Stribling, Apple Grove; John H. 
S. Spencer, Graham Station; F. 
C. Hute, John C. Levzey, L. 
Quickie, Thos. L. Finney, Pliny, 
Frank Dunn, South Side; George 
L. Sebrell, E. B. Nease, Ar- 
buckle; Will Armstrong, Gallipo- 
lis; Dr. Blake, R. E. Blake, Hen- 
ry McCoy, J. E. Frazier, Buf- 
falo; Robt. Somerville, Maggie; 
W. W. Cornwall, Glen wood; 
Earl Henry, Clifton; A. G. W. 
Brinker, A. C. Cross, Thos. Z. 
Blessing, Letart. 

Speakers Committee 
Col. H. R. Howard, Capt. W. 
H. Howand, Wm. E. Hayman, 
Judge George Poffenbarger, 
Robt. L. Hutchinson, Hon. J. S. 
Spencer, Benjamin Franklin, Sr., 
Enos B. Thomas, Dr. E. J. 
Mossman, Carlisle L. Whaley, 
Rev. J. H. Gibbons, Rev. Pullin, 



Rev. R. P. Bell, O. A. Roush, 
Geo. McClintock, Capt. Rush H. 
Burnside, Benjamin H. Blagg. 
Music Committee 

E, B. Sisler, J. H. Norton. B. 
F. Gibbs, A. C. Van Gilder, 
Charles K. Blackwood, Lew Mc- 
Millen, Rankin Wiley, John G. 
Aten, Wm. Steenbergen, Dr. 
John Fadley, Mesdames Mary 
Margaret Bryan, J. M. H. Beale, 
Carlisle L. Whaley, Eliza Wag- 
goner, Charles Filson, Nannie E. 
Hale, Kossuth T. McKinstry, 
Misses Josephine Beale, Ger- 
trude Howard, and Margaret 
Malone, Mrs. W. C. Whaley. 
Program Committee 

Lewis C. Somerville, Judge, 
George Poffenbarger, Col. Hiram 
R. Howard, Howard L. Robey, 
Robt. L. Hutchinson, Charles 
Buxton, Judge John W. English. 

Transportation Committee 

Wm. C. Jordan, L. C. Kuhn, 
Moulton Houk, F. Gerald Mus- 
grave, B. H Blagg, Wallace A . 
Barnett, John McCulloch Dr. 
Hugh A. Barbee, Wm. W. Bryan, 
Ed. C. Berridge, Capt. E. A. 
Burnside, Fred Smith, Capt. E, 
E. Varian, Capt. John Thorn- 
berg, Gus Fry, Jos. L. Ruth, 
Elmer Nutter, E. B. Martin, 
Capt. Gordan C. Greene, J. W 
Hooper. 

School Children 

Prof. H. E. Cooper of Point 
Pleasant and the teachers of 
Mason County. 

Advisory Committee 

Messrs. John W. Steenbergen, 



136 



Beale; Wm. J. Keister, Ashton; 
Clinton Poffenbarger, Mason 
Long-, Beech Hill; James W. 
Long-, Hon. Jabez Beard, South 
Side; E. F. Bletner, W. E. Rut- 
tencutter, Mason; Charles Juhl- 
ing, Hon. J. M. Hensley, J. M. 
Chapman, D. E. Newton, Capt. 
M. M. Brown, Hartford; Judge 
W. W. Jackson, Geo. N. Capehart, 
W. L. Lawson, C. T. Bumgarner, 
New Haven; Geo. W. Gist, Dan 
Sayre, Wm. Klingensmith, Le- 
tart; Philip Click, Willow Tree, 
Judge Byrd Stone, W. P. Smith, 
Fred Sullivan, Wm. Jividen, 
Charles F. Thomas Leon; Judge 
W. H. Vaught, Robert P. Mor- 
ris, Henry Fry, Henderson; 
James Henderson, Rankin Hill, 
Henderson; Hon. Jas. L. Knight, 
Messrs. Asa Musgrave, James 
W. Windon, Jos. H. Windon, H. 
J. Norton, Judge B. J. Redmond, 
Dr. A. R. Girard, Hon. Geo. 
Parsons, Pleasant Flats; Capt. 
L. S. Parsons, John R. Couch, 
Hearne. W. H. Sayre, Chas. W. 
Hogsett, Wm. H. Rowsey, C. A. 
Green, of Hannan District, Shep- 
herd W. Moore, El well; Geo. W. 
Pullin, C. G. P. Musgrave, Deb- 
bv; Geo. J. Meadough, James W. 
Kindey, W. H. Clarke, J. W. 
Bryan, Ash Hughes, W. H. Zum- 
bro, Point Pleasant; John Mc- 
Causland, Jr., Jno, R. Couch, B. 
K Bell, Hearne, R. W. Bateman, 
S. A. McNiel, Mercers Bottom, 
Judge J. L. Thorne, Wyoma. 
Col. Jerume T. Bowyer, Winfield; 



B. J. Lerner, Hartford; John 
J. Dower. Letart; Jas. T. Ed- 
wards, Clifton; H. C. Tur- 
ner, Mason; David Caldwell, Gal- 
lipolis Ferry; Judge A. M. Pugh, 
Col. John L. Vance, Columbus, 
Ohio; Gen'l. John McCausland, 
McCausland; James M. Nye, 
Marrietta, Ohio; Mrs. Samaria, 
H. Palmer; Athens Ohio; Miss 
Margaret Lynn Price, Lewis- 
burg, Mrs. Miram Donnally, 
Mrs. E. W. Wilson, Charles- 
ton; Mrs. Sanders Johnston, 
Dr. Adeline E. Portman, 
Washington, D. C; Mrs. Anna 
S. Greene, Culpeper, Virginia; 
Miss Mary C. Nye, Marrietta, 
Ohio; Mrs. Sophia Dale, Belpre, 
Ohio; Mrs. M. C. Scott, Pomeroy, 
Ohio 

The State Gazette of August 
15th, gives the following: 

'"On Monday August 2nd, 1909, 
at 11 a. m. the steam whistle on 
Captain Charles Homer Varian's 
pumpboat, lying in the mouth of 
Kanawha river, sounded a glad 
cry that was lustily joined in by 
the many steamboats lying in 
harbor. Our people came out in 
great crowds to learn the cause, 
and the on coming tide of people 
were directed to Tu-Endie-Wei 
Park, where had just been set 
the apex stone that completed 
the stone work of the splendid 
Balfour granite monument, com- 
memorating The First Battle of 
the Revolution, fought at Point 
Pleasant, October 10th, 1774. 



137 



It was an occasion that for 
many years has been devoutly 
wished for, and there were many 
upon the grounds prior to the 
blowing- of the whistles, who 
for years had watched every 
step of the preparation for 
the monument building Among 
them were Mrs. J. D. McCul- 
loch, who was a member of the 
Ladies Monument Association, 
that put by the first contribution, 
which with its accumulations, 
represented $2,000 invested in 
the Monument; Mr. C. C. Bow- 
yer of the Monument Commis- 
sion, who have so faithfully la- 
bored in the cause entrusted to 
them by the State; and Mrs. 
Poffenbarger whose interest has 
never lag-ged, and it was her 
little son, Perry Simpson-Poffen- 
barger, who suggested, and in- 
duced Capt. Varian to start the 
whistles. 

The monument has been erect- 
ed so speedily that our people 
can scarcely believe it is so near- 
ly completed. This is accounted 
for by the fact that the stones 
were cut and numbered and 
ready for placing-, and needed lit- 
tle cutting- when they came upon 
the grounds. The Van-Amringe 
Granite Company of Boston, are 
the contractors, with Mr. J. E. 
Amedon of Merchants Depot, of 
Vermont, as the superintendent 
of construction here. Captain 
Charles Fredrick Hess was the 
contractor, not only for the 



splendid cement walks and walls, 
but for the cement work of the 
Monument, and the great under 
footing was laid prior to June 7th, 
when the first carload of granite 
reached here. 

On June 9th, the corner stone 
was laid. There were no cere- 
monies attending it and no depos- 
its made save that of a small coin 
of the issue 1909, the year of the 
Monument construction. 
However, as is the custom in the 
erection of such structures, a box 
was deposited in this monument. 

It was found that in the cen- 
ter tube in the top section imme- 
diately under the great cap stone 
that binds the building, there was 
room to admit a box three inches 
in diameter and twelve inches 
long. Filson Brothers were call- 
ed upon to construct a copper box 
of these dimensions and make it 
air tight. In it were deposited an 
Industrial Edition of The State 
Gazette of the issue, of February 
2nd, 1905, upon which was written 
the following inscription: 

"Deposited, Monday, August 
2d, 1909, the date of the setting- 
of the cap stone of the Point 
Pleasant Battle Monument, by 
Nathan Simpson Poffenbar- 
ger and Perry Simpson Pof- 
fenbarger, sons, and Nata- 
lie Simpson Bryan, niece of 
Geo. and Livia Nye Simp- 
son-Poff enbarg-er. ' ' 
A copy of the diary written by 
Margaret Lynn Lewis, wife of 



138 



John Lewis tbe emigrant and 
a founder of the city of 
Staunton, Virginia, was placed 
in the tube upon which was the 
following- inscription: 

"Deposited, August 2nd, 1909, 
the date of tbe setting of tbe cap- 
stone of tbe Point Pkasant Bat- 
tle Monument, by 

Sallie Lewis McCullocb, 
(Mrs. J. D. McCulloch) 
Great, Great Grand daugh- 
ter of Margaret Lynn Lewis 
and Great Grand daughter 
of Col. Charles Lewis. Sallie 
Lewis McCuDoch (Mrs. P. 
H. Steenbergen), Great, 
Great Grand daughter of 
Col. Chas. Lewis. " 
An Indian arrow bead taken 
from tbe ground when tbe exca- 
vation was made, was put in the 
box and with it a slip of paper 
bearing tbe following: 

"This Indian arrow bead is 
deposited by C. P. Hess, con- 
tractor for the cement work of 
this monument. It was found 
when tbe excavation was made.' 5 
The most important deposit 
made however, was a copy of 
"Tbe Battle of Point Pleasant," 
bearing the following inscription: 
"Deposited, Monday, August 
2d, 1909, the date of the setting 
of the cap stone of the Point 
Pleasant Battle Monument. 

"The illustrations and last 
pages are omitted on account of 
the inability of the printer to 
finish the volume by the date of 



tbe completion of tbe monument. 
Livia Nye Sisnpson-Poffenbarger 
Tbe Author." 

This was tbe most valuable 
because, though not quite com- 
pleted, it carried the most com- 
plete roster of tbe participants 
of tbe battle ever as yet publish- 
ed, that of 1080 men wbo partici- 
pated at Point Pleasant and were 
entitled to share in tbe honors of 
this victory, 

When tbe last stone had been 
set in place, Mr. Amedon pre- 
sented Mrs* Poffenbarger tbe 
two remaining blocks of granite 
from which will be made sou- 
venirs of the monument, 

Tbe statue which is to be 
placed on a base in the front of 
tbe monument has not reached 
here, nor have the eight bronze 
plates in bas relief, two of 
which bearing the coat of arms 
of tbe United States and of West 
Virginia, and six of which bear 
the inscription of the killed and 
wounded and tbe officers com- 
manding the army, but they 
have been shipped and will be 
here to be put in place by Mr. 
Amedun upon bis return from 
St. Louis, less than three weeks 
hence. Upon bis return, tbe 
monument will be pointed up, 
the statue and plates set and 
the monument veiled ready for 
the ceremonial attendant upon 
the unveiling of October 9th, 
1909. 



139 



INDEX 



APPROPRIATIONS 

By Congress , 131 

By Ladies Monument Association 96 

By West Virginia Legislature 110 129 

CELEBRATIONS 

October 10, I860 96 

October 10, 1774 102 

October 10, 1901 124 

October 10, 1909.. . : 132 

DEDIC ATION OF TU-ENDIE-WEI PARK 

Description uf the Battle ................... . .26-28-29 

History of the Monument Building 95 

Killed and Wounded . 28 

Roster of Participants 84 

BIOGRAPHIES 

Bailey James - 72 

Bledsoe Anthony 0 ........... 55 

Bowen Wm • • 68 

Bracken Matthew 78 

Breckenridge Alexander 66 

Cameron Chas. E. • . . 57 

Campbell Arthur • 48 

Campbell John 49 

Campbell Robert.... - ■ 75 

Campbell Wm... 47 

Carter John • 75 

Christian Wm. 54 

Clendenin x\rchibald 64 



Clendenin George 
Clendenin William 

Cocke Wm 

Cooper Leonard . 
Cornstalk ....... 

Crawford John . . . 
Crockett Joseph . . 
Curry James. . . . . 



140 



Davis Azariah 47 

Dickinson John J. . . . . 55 

Drake Joseph 69 

Draper John. 47 

Dunmore Lord 78 

Eastham George . 61 

Edmiston Wm , 69 

Ewing Wm 71 

Fleming- Col. Wm 44 

Floyd Capt. John 66 

Frogg John. ... 73 

Gibbs Luman 60 

Hackett Thomas 76 

Hamilton Wm 78 

Harlon Silas 57 

Harrison Benjamin 52 

Harrod James 53 

Henderson John 60 

Herbert Wm 66 

Hughes Ellis 56 

Hughey Joseph 56 

Ingles Thomas 69 

Ingles Wm 66 

Jones John 46 

Kimberling Elijah 71 

Knox James 71 

Lewis Gen'l Andrew 39 

Lewis Col. Charles 40 

Lewis Benjamin 67 

Lewis Mayor John (son of Wm.) 63 

Lewis Capt. John (son of Thos.) 73 

Lewis Capt. John (son of Gen'l Andrew) 76 

Logan 79 

Logan Benjamin 64 

Logan John 65 

Love Philip 56 

Lyle John 73 

Madison John 71 

Matthews George. . , . . 49 

Matthews Sampson 50 

Mayes Joseph ... 48 



141 



McAffee George 70 

McAffee James 70 

McAffee Robert.. .. . . 70 

McAffee Samuel 70 

McAffee Wm 70 

McCorkle Wm 73 

McDowell Capt. (Judge) Samuel. 52 

McKee Wm. 71 

Moffatt George 72 

Montgomery James 54 

Moore Gen. Andrew • 49 

Moore Wm 73 

MurryJobn^ • 72 

Newman Walter • • • .... 73 

Posey Thomas 62 

Pauley Henry 70 

Ramsey Joseph - 68 

Robertson James • ■ • 51 

Robertson Wm • 73 

Russell Wm 54 

Sawyer John ■ • 56 

See Michael • • 77 

Sevier John • • • • ■ • 52 

Sevier Valentine 53 

Shelby Evan ■ ■ 45 

Shelby Isaac 45 

Slaughter Geo 70 

Slaughter Francis ■ 70 

Slaughter Lawrence • • • 70 

Slaughter Wm. 54 

Smith John 52 

Simms Charles 72 

Steele John 56 

Stuart John • 61 

Todd John • 57 

Trigg Stephen 66 

Trimble James. 54 

Trotter Wm • • • • • <p 

Van Bibber John 58 

Van Bibber Isaac . . . . : • • • 58 

Van Bibber Jesse. 58 

Van Bibber Peter 58 

Warwick Jacob ........ 57 



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